A False Mirror: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

“Full of suspense, surprises, and sympathetic characters.”
—Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“No mystery series I can think of captures the sadness and loss that swept over England after World War I with the heartbreaking force of Charles Todd’s books about Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge.”
—Chicago Tribune

The remarkable Charles Todd has created one of the most unforgettable characters in mystery and crime fiction: Inspector Ian Rutledge, shell-shocked veteran of “the Great War.” A False Mirror is one of Todd’s most powerful novels, plunging his tormented protagonist into the center of a brutal crime that painfully echoes events in Rutledge’s own past. Poignant, evocative, and continually surprising, A False Mirror is further proof that Charles Todd is well deserving of the critical acclaim the Rutledge novels have earned; a New York Times bestselling author who belongs among the acknowledged masters of the genre, including P. D. James, Elizabeth George, Ruth Rendell, and Jacqueline Winspear.

Unhealed scars of the Great War still torment Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge, and he carries with him the presence of the soldier he was forced to execute in the midst of battle. A haunted, damaged shell of a man, he has been sent to the small coastal town of Hampton Regis to solve a violent crime and to confront his own tragic past.

An officer who served with Rutledge in the trenches of France before being sent back to England under suspicious circumstances has now been accused of savagely beating the husband of the woman he still loves. The suspect has taken the wife hostage, threatening to kill her and her maid unless Rutledge is put in charge of the investigation. Although the case painfully mirrors Rutledge's own past and the love he lost to another man, he cannot refuse it. When the unconscious brutalized victim vanishes without a trace, it's clear that this peaceful little town hides a vicious murderer . . . and secrets powerful enough to kill for.

“Clues that would do Agatha Christie proud inexorably lead to the denouement....Compelling evidence that inside every warrior who returns from the front, there’s a nightmare waiting to break out.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Deft characterization...Todd...seamlessly melds a fair-play whodunit with psychological suspense in the tradition of P. D. James’s best.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Touches of both Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie in this character-driven mystery, which builds smoothly but not simply to a climax that is likely to be a genuine surprise.” - Booklist

“The revelation of the culprit comes as a surprise owing to multiple suspects with potential motives, but it is Rutledge’s tortured soul that will intrigue and engage readers most.” - Library Journal

“Todd . . . keeps the atmospheric A False Mirror full of suspense, surprises and sympathetic characters.” - Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“The overall mystery is well done . . . melancholy, atmospheric.” - Christian Science Monitor