by Charles Todd
Part of Inspector Ian Rutledge, book 10
First published 2007
Inspector Rutledge discovers a corpse wrapped in a cloak among the ruins of Yorkshire's Fountains Abbey. The dead man's face bears a gas mask, and beside him lies an alchemy book that belongs to the local schoolmaster, a conscientious objector from the Great War. The case grows more complex when the British War Office assigns Rutledge to find their own missing person, someone whose wartime activities were so classified that Rutledge cannot learn his true identity or role. The search leads Rutledge to Berkshire, where former leper cottages sit beneath a massive white horse carved into the chalk hills. The cottages now shelter social outcasts, each hiding from their past. Rutledge must untangle layers of deception while a killer fights to remain free. The investigation forces him to determine which residents speak truthfully about their neighbors and which ones distort reality. Above it all, the pale horse carved in chalk serves as a constant reminder that death shadows everyone, especially those who survived the French trenches.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, deception, layers-of-mystery
Setting: Berkshire, Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire
Period: Great War, World War I
384 pages · ebook · HarperCollins Publishers