A Divided Loyalty
A Novel
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4.5 • 281 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
"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?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1921, bestseller Todd's middling 22nd whodunit featuring Insp. Ian Rutledge (after 2019's The Black Ascot) opens with a suspenseful tease. Scotland Yard Chief Insp. Brian Leslie is dispatched to Wiltshire, where an unidentified woman, who's been fatally stabbed, has been found inside Avebury, a Stonehenge-like prehistoric stone circle. Leslie is startled to recognize the victim and fears that his reaction has alerted his colleagues that he knew the deceased, even as he reassures himself that, as the officer in charge, he can control the inquiry and its outcome. When Leslie fails to solve the murder, the Avebury case is reassigned to Rutledge, who recently handled a similar crime successfully. Rutledge finds himself in the awkward position of reviewing a superior's work and questioning the man's choices. The answers as to why Leslie felt guilt after seeing the woman's corpse and what she meant to him are less satisfying than the series' many superior solutions. Todd (the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd) has done better.
Customer Reviews
I Like Hamish
DI Ian Rutledge is certainly one of the most psychologically interesting sleuths in the identity parade of British murder mysteries, but I attribute much of his success to his alter ego/nemesis the late Corp. Hamish MacLeod. Together Ian and Hamish put the Scotland back in Scotland Yard. They also keep the Inspector on the brink of madness and on the top of his game in making simply incredible (in the true meaning of the word, not the cliché) leaps of deduction that prove essential to reveal the series of homicidal geniuses who almost get away with murder.
In this craftily plotted and stumping investigation an unknown murderer with unknown victims has masterfully hidden the necessary clues (usually in plain sight), destroyed essential evidence and littered the ground with red herrings like scraps on a dirty street. You are flooded with details which demand attention and mislead you from the true author of the gruesome actions that provoke the inquiry. Who could possibly be so heartless as to harm two innocent and righteous humans, making them look like cold-blooded murderers? Who would know how to arrange events so well that there are no real witnesses and the inquests reveal nothing? What raging madman is motivated to attack even Ian Rutledge in order to block revelation of the truth of these crimes? Rutledge whose stoic and heroic rectitude makes him gallop over hills even after not having slept for three days, walk out of hospital even after almost desanguinating from a stabbing, and never ever considers actually feeling the emotions that drive his PTSD? A Hero of the antique model, fitting the end of the First World War. Someone get him a knighthood quickly!