Bøger i Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteri serien

Don’t miss the first book in the critically acclaimed Inspector Ian Rutledge seriesIt’s 1919, and the “War to End All Wars” has been won. But there is no peace for Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge, recently returned from the battlefields of France shell-shocked and tormented by the ever-present voice of the young Scot he had executed for refusing an order. Escaping into his work to save his sanity, Rutledge investigates the murder of a popular colonel in Warwickshire and his alleged killer, a decorated war hero and close friend of the Prince of Wales.The case is a political minefield, and its resolution could mean the end of Rutledge’s career. Win or lose, the cost may be more than the damaged investigator can bear. For the one witness who can break the case open is, like Rutledge, a war-ravaged victim . . . and his grim, shattered fate could well prove to be the haunted investigator’s own.

June, 1916. On the eve of the bloody Battle of the Somme, a group of English officers have a last drink before returning to the Front. Strangers, they discover a shared enthusiasm for motorcars, and make a promise: If they survive, they’ll meet in Paris a year after the war ends and celebrate by racing to Nice.As planned, the officers reunite in 1919 and set out. In the mountains just north of their destination, one vehicle is nearly run off the twisting road while another crashes, badly injuring the driver. No one knows—or will admit to recognizing—who was behind the wheel of the rogue motorcar. One year later, a rector driving along the English coast in a gale loses control of his vehicle and is killed. Another set of tire tracks raises questions. Is the crash connected to the events the year before? Called in to investigate this puzzling case, Inspector Ian Rutledge—a man fighting his own past—begins a frustrating search for a merciless killer who hides in the shadows. And when the next target is a child, Rutledge will stop at nothing to find the victim in time.

"Todd's astute character studies . . . offer a fascinating cross section of postwar life. . . . A satisfying puzzle-mystery." ? The New York Times Book Review Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is assigned one of the most baffling investigations of his career: an unsolved murder case with an unidentified victim and a cold trail with few clues to follow A woman has been murdered at the foot of a megalith shaped like a great shrouded figure. Chief Inspector Brian Leslie, one of the Yard's best men, is sent to investigate the site in Avebury, a village set inside a prehistoric stone circle not far from Stonehenge. In spite of his efforts, Leslie is not able to identify her, much less discover how she got to Avebury?or why she died there. Her killer has simply left no trace. Several weeks later, when Ian Rutledge has returned from successfully concluding a similar case with an unidentified victim, he is asked to take a second look at Leslie's inquiry. But Rutledge suspects Chief Superintendent Markham simply wants him to fail. Leslie was right?Avebury refuses to yield its secrets. But Rutledge slowly widens his search, until he discovers an unexplained clue that seems to point toward an impossible solution. If he pursues it and he is wrong, he will draw the wrath of the Yard down on his head. But even if he is right, he can't be certain what he can prove, and that will play right into Markham's game. The easy answer is to let the first verdict stand: Person or persons unknown. But what about the victim? What does Rutledge owe this tragic young woman? Where must his loyalty lie?