Customer Reviews

A Long Shadow (Thorndike Reviewers' Choice)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read all of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge mysteries up to this book, and was a bit disappointed. Besides getting quite tired of Hamish (get some professional help, already, Ian!), the plot is so muddled that even at the end I wasn't quite sure what was done to whom and why. Without being a spoiler, all I can say about the motive of the murderer is.... WHAT??? It's the thinnest excuse for murder I've ever read and almost completely unbelievable. Still, if only to keep up what's going on with Rutledge, this book is worth reading; I just hope the next one is better.

This is the eighth adventure of Ian Rutledge, a "shell-shocked" World War I veteran, back at his pre-war job at Scotland Yard, investigating and solving murders. (The books take place in 1919.) Ian is also haunted - literally- by the ghost of a Scottish soldier who reported to him during his time in the trenches. Hamish - said ghost - is not just an ephemeral lurking presence but a constant character. After eight books, Hamish has become more than tiresome; he's aggravating, much a like a neighbor's barking dog. In addition this series has become both stale and repetitive.

The authors - I use the plural, as Charles Todd is actually a mother/son duo - follow a very similar outline for each of the Rutledge books. Although Ian is based in London, he spends little time there. His superior, a one dimensional bureaucrat and blowhard, assigns Rutledge to cases out in the English countryside. This is perfectly fine with the loner Ian, who hops into his "motor-car" and travels to some distant small village or hamlet to solve a murder.

When Ian reaches his destination he is always greeted with suspicion by the small-town folk, he drinks copious amounts of tea and sleeps little; he encounters a very obvious red-herring, i.e. a member of the community who must be guilty except he or she is not because that would be too obvious and there is always a woman - usually a young widow - who kindles a romantic spark within Ian. Rutledge always solves the case just before he can truly fall in love and just in time for his superior to assign him to another case in another remote location.

And oh yeah, there's always Hamish the Obnoxious Ghost, yammering in his impenetrable Scottish burr in the not so distant background.

A Long Shadow follows this template. It differs from its predecessors in that the solution of the case - actually cases - is incredibly weak, particularly the identity of the murderer. Also Rutledge has attracted a stalker in this book, the point of which I missed.

I was drawn to this series because it has all the earmarks I usually enjoy. Unfortunately to say the Rutledge books are similar is an understatement. They're all the same book. If you've read one, you've read them all.

After reading A Cold Treachery and liking it, I was surprised at how much I disliked this one. Maybe here we begin to see the perils of having a "team" write mysteries? Maybe mom and son forget who's supposed to take care of which detail.

There are two story lines here: Rutledge being stalked and the crime(s) in Dudlington that sent Rutledge there. The second was somewhat dealt with, but the first was left hanging with little explained about the stalker's methods and his ability to pull off his stalking. [SPOILER] In the final stalking scene, are we to believe that the stalker just waited by the side of the (which? any?) road waiting for Ian to come along--was he out there 24/7 in the cold?

At one point, Rutledge likens his view to that "from an airplane." Given the time frame, we can probably assume he had never been in a plane (which probably should have been called an "aeroplane" in those days). One can almost picture him logged on to Google Earth, circling over Dudlington.

The author is good, as I've noted in previous reviews, at creating a picture of a locale. Unfortunately, in this case, that's about all there is. The crimes in Dudlington make little sense, particularly the motive. The connection to a London crime and to Scotland Yard's officials was convoluted, to say the least. The relationship of Rutledge and his new female friend was not believable and was too quickly intimate (although not physical).

The edition I read has a dust jacket with a lovely atmospheric photo of a ruined abbey. Great! But there is no ruined abbey in the book. I realize the author has little control over the cover, but I wonder what the publisher was aiming for here?

I found the book very slow-going and kept wanting to scream "just get on with it!" Maybe such an investigation does take this long, this much driving back and forth, this much discussion over and over; I just didn't want to sit through it. Although Hamish didn't especially annoy me in the other Rutledge books I've read, he drove me crazy here. Instead of just being a voice inside Ian's head, now we've got him sitting in the back seat of the car, getting in Ian's way on a rung of a ladder, Ian worrying about Hamish being shot, etc. Yikes! Several other things, primarily editing problems, annoyed me as well. Think I'll lay off "Charles Todd" for a while.

A permeating presence in "A Long Shadow: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Novel" by Charles Todd is a place called Frith's Wood next to the village of Dudlington in the East Midlands region of England, about 70 miles northwest of London.

The inhabitants of Dudlington superstitiously avoid the dense Wood, considering it to be fearsome and deathly. They believe the place to be haunted by Saxon dead, who were villagers many centuries ago that raiders had herded into the Wood and slaughtered.

One man who can't seem to stay away from Frith's Wood is Constable Hensley. He is not a native of Dudlington. In more recent years he had been assigned there from Scotland Yard in London. Hensley tries to hide that he goes into the Wood. But many windows in Dudlington can look out across the fields. People wonder, why does he go snooping around there?

On Hensley's last visit, someone did more than just see him. The person shot him in the back with an arrow, almost killing him, landing him in hospital. This attempted murder is what prompts London to dispatch Inspector Ian Rutledge to investigate.

More than Frith's Wood is haunted. Rutledge is being trailed. Someone has been leaving cartridge casings carefully inscribed with death heads for Rutledge to see. From his four years in France in the First World War, Rutledge is fully familiar with these casings and knows they are a warning.

Rutledge soon learns that a young woman, Emma Mason -- "too pretty for her own good" -- has been missing from the village. Some say she left her grandmother's house and went off to London to find her mother. Some believe Emma is dead. Constable Hensley is under suspicion. Are these happenings related?

Who is putting Rutledge in danger? Who is responsible for Emma's disappearance? Who shot Hensley with an arrow? What hides in Frith's Wood? There are secrets in this village. The plot is complicated and pleasing. The characters are well drawn. There is plenty of suspense. The writing is excellent (354 pages).

I too join the list of people who have grown quite tired of Hamish. Dump this troublesome ghost. Did they not have shrinks in 1919? It might also help if Rutledge would grow a little backbone when dealing with his superiors and quit being everyone's doormat.
I made it to page 120 of A Long Shadow before putting it down and asking myself, "Who cares"? I may or may not begin another Todd book.

Here is the perfect book for you. These books by Charles Todd are absolute perfection! There are about 10 in the series so far. They are mysteries set between the World Wars in England. The main character is Ian Rutledge, an ex-officer in World War 1, who has rejoined Scotland Yard. Dectective Rutledge is haunted by the voice of Hamish who was his sergeant in the war. Rutledge shot and killed Hamish when he refused a direct order to lead his men into battle. Hamish taunts Rutledge as well as gives him advice about the cases he tries to solve.

I know this sounds pretty far fetched but wait, this is not even the most unbelievable part. These stories are written by two Americans, a man and his mother. One lives in New York and one lives in North Carolina. I don't know how any of it works. But is does. These are the most interesting English mysteries I have ever read. And they are so well written!

A Long Shadow is the 8th in the series. You really should read them in order. Goggle Charles Todd and find out the order.

This is one of the most boring, lamest mysteries I've ever read. The characters and events, not just unbelievable, seemed to be parts of different stories, none brought together into any sort cohesive plot. Just when you think some relevant piece of information will finally be forthcoming, anything to move the story along just a bit, your hopes are dashed with yet another dopey statement like "Was she an enemy or a friend?" This happens so much that you start asking yourself, "You're asking me?" The device of having this dead Hamish always whispering in Rutledge's ear was nothing more than distracting and annoying. About half way through the book I didn't care who had committed the crime (although you have to read practically the whole book to find out what crime was committed). I think that if you like the period (post WWI England), think there's something exotic about English figures of speech, and think Scottish brogue is a good enough reason to stick a character into a story, you might enjoy this. I haven't read any of the other books, and won't.

The entire series is wonderfully fresh and interesting. Todd and his mother tell a good story about WW I and its aftermath through the eyes of an Inspector from Scotland Yard. I await eagerly every next book.

The inspector's struggle with PTSD adds to the turns in the mystery. Good read.