— BEN STEELMAN STARNEWS, (review for The Gate Keeper)
“The sun set long ago on the British Empire, but the sceptered isles still reign supreme when it comes to mysteries. The latest proof: “The Gate Keeper,” the latest from the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd and their 20th novel starring Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard.” Read the full review >
— DAVID PITT, BOOKLIST, (review for The Gate Keeper)
“December 1920. Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is driving home from his sister’s wedding when he comes upon the scene of an apparent homicide. A man lies dead in the road; a woman with bloody hands is bending over the body. “I didn’t do it,” she says, claiming that somebody came out of nowhere, shot the man, and vanished. The victim turns out to be Stephen Wentworth, a man with a convoluted family history (including hints that he may have had something to do with a previous death). As Rutledge digs deeper, there’s yet another death, and Rutledge is forced to consider the possibility that someone has just begun a killing spree. The Rutledge series hits a milestone with its twentieth installment. Fans will be pleased but hardly surprised to learn that this one, like its predecessors, is tightly plotted, gracefully written, and dramatically intense. Here’s to another 20.”
— THE REAL BOOK SPY, (review for The Gate Keeper)
“Once again, Charles Todd (the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd) manages to embed a thrilling mystery deep within a twisting and turning whodunit that zigs and zags its way to a ho-hum climax that doesn’t disappoint…” Read the full review >
— PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, (review for The Gate Keeper)
“A chance encounter on a country road late one night in December 1920 kicks off the exceptionally clever plot of bestseller Todd’s 20th mystery featuring Insp. Ian Rutledge (after 2017’s Racing the Devil). Rutledge, an emotionally scarred WWI veteran, is driving in Suffolk, with no particular destination in mind, when his headlamps catch a car stopped in front of him. Next to the car, a woman with bloodstained hands is bending over a man lying in the road. Rutledge stops to investigate. The man, Stephen Wentworth, is dead. The woman explains that Stephen was driving her home after a dinner party when a man stepped out in front of them. After Stephen got out of their vehicle and exchanged a few words with him, the man shot Stephen. Over local opposition, Rutledge successfully lobbies to take charge of the inquiry, and then struggles to learn why anyone would want to murder Stephen, a popular local bookseller, resisting the theory that the violence was random. As always, Todd (the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd) deepen their crafty whodunit with a moving exploration of their astute sleuth’s inner torments.”