A False Mirror by Charles Todd

Charles Todd is one of my favorite authors or should I say two of my favorite authors since it is mother/son writing team, something I did not know until this novel. I think it is the perfect melding of history, suspense, and tortured hero that is so riveting in the Ian Rutledge series. I look forward with anticipation to each and every novel.

A FALSE MIRROR has Ian Rutledge investigating a beating in the small harbor town of Hampton Regis. The year is 1920, and Rutledge is continued to be tortured by his part in the death of Hamish Macleod who served under him in the war. He was forced to execute Hamish after he refused to obey a direct order. Now Hamish is a voice inside his head that never seems to disappear, never allowing Rutledge to forget the horror, but is also a voice that is an observer to all that goes on around Rutledge giving voice to his insights. Rutledge arrives in Hampton Regis at the request of Stephen Mallory, who not only served with Rutledge but also despised him. Mallory is accused of beating Matthew Hamilton out of jealousy because Mallory was engaged to Felicity Hamilton before the war. He has escaped to the Hamilton house, and takes Felicity and her maid hostage (or so it seems). He wants Rutledge to find the real culprit behind the beating. More than one murder takes place before Rutledge is able to unravel the mysteries of the darker underbelly in the small sleepy town.

One one level Charles Todd has written a cozy whodunit, but to call it that does it a disservice. Charles Todd writes a psychological study of human frailty as much as a mystery novel. The novel is rich in characterization with a sympathetic protagonist and an effective cast of secondary characters. Todd gives a realistic sense of time and place. There is nothing that feels modern that sneaks through in the writing. You really feel like you are back in 1920. Highly recommended.

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