A LONG SHADOW finds Rutledge turned from hunter to prey when a mysterious stalker forces the Inspector to revisit painful memories from the war and confront unfinished business there.

Rutledge first encounters his unknown and unseen adversary after a dinner at the home of mutual friends on New Year’s Eve, 1919. Leaving before the other guests, he finds a brass machine gun cartridge casing on the doorstep. It’s like countless others he’s seen in the trenches—but what is it doing on a quiet London street, far from France? And this one has been engraved. Disturbed and intrigued, he pockets it.

Soon after, Rutledge is sent to the southern coast of England to help the local police capture a murderer. Work done, on a whim he drives to the cliffs high about the sea and walks out to the headland. Returning to his car, on the driver’s seat he discovers another engraved cartridge casing, the death’s heads on it marking it as a companion to the one he’d found in London. Rutledge is being followed—and to stay alive in the face of a dangerous, anonymous foe, he is pressed to the limits of his investigative skills. But there’s little time to protect himself, for he must look into a vicious attack on a village constable in the north, a crime with roots deep in the past.

Or is he being lured there for the coup de grace?

Praise for A Long Shadow

“Todd’s plotting and characterization are, as usual, first-rate, and the tormented motivations behind the novel’s dark acts are presented with a sensitivity and refinement reminiscent of the best P.D. James.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Todd’s series has the feel of the classic whodunits of such Golden Age masters as Christie and Sayers. Its ever-thickening plot is sure to pleas serious puzzlers who thrill to a large cast of wary villagers spinning complex webs of rumor and deception…a traditional mystery buff’s delight.”
—Booklist

“Excels at intricate relationships among characters….Another winning story.”
—Library Journal

“Riveting historical mystery.”
—Romantic Times

“Incisive as ever.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Charles Todd continues the expert plotting and keen insight into the human psyche that has been a hallmark of this series….A superior look at a country and one former soldier recovering from war’s devastation…seamless in its storytelling and enthralling in its plotting.”
—Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“A daunting portrait of a town that keeps its thoughts, its troubles and most of all its secrets to itself.”
— New York Times Book Review

“[A] remarkable series….Keeps readers on the edge right up to the stunning end.”
—Detroit Free Press

“Book by book, the mother/son team who writes as Charles Todd continue to delve deeper and deeper into the national psyche of Britain during the unsettled years following World War I….[An] elegantly devised series.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Atmosphere aplenty.”
—Charlotte Observer

“Evocative.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“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

“I admire not just the book’s pace but also its seriousness, its darkness….The authors also do a nice job of capturing the era.”
—Washington Post

“Riveting all the way through…the climax is a jaw-dropping triumph of terror…A truly stunning book, one sure to become a classic of the genre.”
—Scene of the Crime newsletter

“The plot and the atmosphere draw the reader in from the first page. Todd doesn’t let up for a minute piling clue upon clue and motive upon motive.”
—Mystery Scene

“Like P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Charles Todd writes novels that transcend genre. They are well-plotted mysteries, taut with psychological suspense. They are also fine literature, with fully developed characters and evocative descriptions. Above all, these stories peer deeply into human nature.”
—Winston-Salem Journal

“An absorbing plot with twists and turns…gripping…Well-drawn characters and scenes, wry local humor, and plot details steep the mystery in English country life.”
—School Library Journal

“The mystery with its cast of local English characters, and the intricate plot is like the classic whodunits of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. Readers who like serious, challenging puzzles will enjoy A Long Shadow.”
—Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News (Stuart, Florida)

“Somber, moving, and utterly spellbinding…evocative….Rutledge’s ongoing courageous refusal to surrender to the dark forces buffeting him on all sides is a shining example of resolve, nerve, and decency, and makes haunted Ian Rutledge impossible to drive out of one’s mind.”
— Strand magazine