Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM
![[4.5 stars]](../images/spots/3_puzzle_45.gif)
A Fearsome Doubt
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Charles Todd
Class/Genre: Mystery Historical Police Procedural
Series: Ian Rutledge # 6
...
Todd's books are set in the year immediately following the November 1918 armistice which concluded World War I. Ian Rutledge was a Scotland Yard police officer before the war, and although he still struggles with a type of shell shock, he has returned to active employment as a police officer. Coping with a supervising officer who is not always supportive, and indeed often hostile, Rutledge finds himself posted to various parts of Britain to help local authorities in murder investigations. Accompanying him on all his visits to small town police departments is his own private ghost - Hamish McLeod. Rutledge was forced to order McLeod's execution during the war, and is now haunted by the man's spirit. Rutledge has told no one of Hamish's presence, but the two carry on continuing conversations.
Yet the books are remarkably free of what some call a "woo-woo" factor. These aren't ghost stories, but very enjoyable investigative puzzles. "A Fearsome Doubt" involves a reopened Scotland Yard investigation, the murders of three rural survivors of the war, a furtive visitor to the farm country of Kent, a dying attorney and his wife who bears the brunt of his frustrations, and the lovely widow of one of Rutledge's boyhood friends.
I like the way Todd moves the action through the setting of a small English village, with few important events unfolding, and almost no sense of what is behind the murders. But in the last 8-10 pages, all is revealed and everything makes sense.
I really hope we see a lot more of Inspector Rutledge!
Woodstock - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM
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