Customer Reviews

Red Door

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The Ian Rutledge series is one of my personal favorites. However, this particular entry becomes, to my mind, a bit overly complicated and I found myself growing a bit weary of the endless twists and turns involving the Teller family. Even Hamish fails to provide some of the spice of the earlier novels. However, the good inspector's personal life shows signs of becoming more interesting and I'm anxious for future novels just to see how the haunted protagonist handles a woman in his life. All in all, this is a provocative read, but not recommended as an introduction to the world of Ian Rutledge. Do read some of the earlier books first.

This is my first Ian Rutledge book, so that may influence my view because as another reviewer noted, this is a series to be read from the beginning, and not jumped into midstream. Even so, I think that a book, even in a series, should be written so that someone can jump in at any point and enjoy it.

The Red Door has a decent plot. The only problem is that it takes over half the book to get going. I had to force myself to keep reading; only rarely do I write a review for a book I do not finish. While the plot is interesting- others have covered the basics, so I won't repeat them- and the dialog flows naturally, there were things about the book that bothered me.

The Red Door is set after WW1. But for references to the past war and people traveling by train and hand-cranking a car, I found little that linked the action to that period. This story could have taken place at any time. Some might say this is the sign of a good story, however a major reason why I read mysteries set in earlier times is because I enjoy a story wrapped up in descriptions of the period. The above ties in with the authors' writing style. The word "spare" kept coming to me as I read. There are some descriptions, but it is the bare minimum necessary. If you like atmosphere and descriptions that make you feel like you are there in the story, you may not enjoy this.

As for the characters, I found them wooden and uninteresting. After reading this, I have no curiosity or desire to read anymore about Ian Rutledge. I should have, but didn't. He has problems from the war, to be sure, but that did not gain my sympathy. Having one of his former soldiers in his head is different, but I saw nothing to show he was healing- or getting worse, for that matter. The man's voice is just there. I just saw no spark or passion in Ian until the last page, and even that was minor.

There are other characters such as the required boss and coworker who is after him, the sister, a love interest (I think- that past relationship wasn't made very clear) and a caring godfather. The godfather's visit gave the authors and opportunity to let Ian grow or work through some of his problems, but they declined. The man comes...and goes, with a bit of excitement that fizzles since they did not even use the second chance Ian had to talk with his godfather. Overall, everyone seems...bland.

Twists in a plot line can surely enliven a story, but this one hangs perilously close to the "oh, please, not another one!" category during the last quarter of the book. Had the authors spread the wealth out a bit, say making the first part of the story make more sense- or even more interesting, I think I would have enjoyed it more. At the end, once everything was explained, I still had questions.

This is not a bad book, and fans of the series will mostly likely be pleased. For me, it just didn't catch my interest.

The Red Door by Charles Todd is overflowing with cases to be solved. Inspector Rutledge is puzzled by a family with dark secrets. A missing persons case turns into a murder investigation. Convenient accidents confuse the investigation. The only witness may be a talking parrot.

Meanwhile the Inspector becomes a target of a young robber. He must be caught before he cuts up another look-a-like.

On the personal front Rutledge's godfather visits from Scotland. At first he fears that his insightful godfather will discover his weaknesses but as the week plays out he realizes how much he has missed his companionship. Unfortunately a train wreck threatens to cut their time short. Rushing to save the day Ruthledge encounters Miss Channing. She has decided to travel. He is faced with not seeing her for the next two years.

As always Hamlish is in his head providing wisdom and guidance as well as the memory of war

Inspector Rutledge has come back from the front to his civilan job of police inspector as the Great War is over and he takes on two cases that supposedly aren't related. The first one is a case about a man named Walter Teller who disappears after he gets out of hospital. He's from an influential family, who also are looking for him, much to the chagrin of Rutledge. Murder is what the second case is about. Someone killed a Mrs. Peter Teller behind a red door.

Walter returns and he has a brother named Peter, but Peter isn't married to the dead woman. The Teller's claim they don't know her. Rutledge, and the demons who haunt his memory, have a mystery on their hands, one I just loved reading. Inspector Rutledge is a great character and the Todds, mother and son, put me right in the setting, made me feel like I was seeing England right after World War I. And they kept me turning the pages, anxious to see what come next. You can't ask for more than that in a mystery.

Charles Todd's THE RED DOOR is one of the best in the 12 book series. Walter Teller, a missionary in China and Africa and a chaplain in WWI, is suddenly stricken with a paralysis. He is taken to an exclusive clinic in London where his wife, his brothers, Edwin and Peter, and their wives wait for some sign of improvement. The doctors are stymied and the family fears that Walter is dying. Then, as suddenly as the paralysis came on, it disappears and so does Walter. Ian Rutledge is assigned another impossible task: find Walter Teller before the press learns of his disappearance. The Tellers are not a family to be discussed in the press.

As Rutledge begins what he believes will be a fruitless search, Walter reappears with no memory of where he has been.

In Lancashire, a woman has been waiting two years for the return of her husband from the war. Rutledge is sent to the village of Hobson because the dead woman is Florence Teller whose husband was named Peter. Somehow, in some way, Florence is tied to one of the brothers who has been living a lie with a wife in London.

The book is the story of the visible and invisible wounds left by the war. It is the story of money, class, privilege, inheritance, and secrets. And it is the story of the destruction of a powerful family who are the victims of the control exerted by their father from beyond the grave.

I liked THE RED DOOR for all the reasons that many other reviewers didn't. Rutledge is changing. Hamish is ever present but his voice is more hushed. The 12 books in the series represent a year in Rutledge's life and he is moving slowly back to the people who love him and whom he loves. He is becoming less a victim of the war and more a survivor of the carnage.

I eagerly await book 13.

Inspector Ian Rutledge is a shell-shocked survivor of the Great War, returned to his job at Scotland Yard. THE RED DOOR finds him on the hunt for Walter Teller who suffered some sort of catatonic breakdown and then vanished from a London hospital. Walter turns up but it's obvious the family is covering up secrets. When a woman named Florence Teller is murdered in the country, Rutledge is determined to get to the bottom of those secrets.

Readers of this series (THE RED DOOR is the twelfth Inspector Rutledge outing) will be aware that Rutledge's emotional scars include the voice of a young Scot in his head. Young Hamish was one of the men under his command and his voice is a constant reminder of all that was lost in battle. I don't have a sense of Rutledge's character developing, or moving toward recovery; he's merely coping. He and Hamish just keep co-existing, though in this book Hamish has such a minor role that I almost forgot about him.

Walter Teller and his two brothers, along with their wives and other family connections, were not as clearly differentiated as I would have preferred--posssibly in part because they were neither heroes nor villains. The plot also has some issues. Rutledge spends a truly huge part of the book just driving around to the different rural settings; yet there is very little "setting" for all these locations. No sense of geography to speak of, which is too bad. The country houses and villages are almost entirely undifferentiated, like the people living in them; an opportunity lost. The authors (a mother and son writing team) have injected a secondary story line about a young thug who attacks and tries to rob Rutledge on a bridge, and this didn't mesh well with the overall story, as far as I can see. It did serve to emphasize Rutledge's alienation from his department, but that was obvious anyhow.

On the plus side, the writing is smooth and there is a rewarding visit from Rutledge's godfather. We also see Rutledge taking an emotional step toward a woman he is attracted to, which suggests a direction for the next book. I have the feeling that this series could have a new lease on life if Rutledge finds a way to move on to a new phase of recovery from his emotional wounds.

Linda Bulger, 2010

I've been a fan of Charles Todd's grim but literate mysteries for a while now. Todd's protagonist is Ian Rutledge, a shellshocked WWI veteran who has joined Scotland Yard after suffering from a combat-induced nervous breakdown. Rutledge is a thoughtful, sober sleuth, still suffering violently from the post-traumatic stress caused by brutal trench warfare. After nearly a dozen Rutledge novels, Todd still manages a few surprises. The puzzle Rutledge faces this time out is unusual: n English gentleman goes missing and is promptly found alive by Rutledge. Shortly thereafter, Rutledge begins investigating the murder of a woman in a different county who shares the same last name as the missing-but-found man but is not directly related to him. Are the events connected or coincidence?

While Todd keeps the mysteries fresh, the bizarre form that Rutledge's PTSD takes -- the voice of a dead Scot infantryman ringing in his ears, heard only by Rutledge, as a kind of Greek chorus commenting on the action -- is now starting to get a bit worn. It's time to put Hamish to rest, and take the Rutledge character in a new direction. Fans of the series no doubt will enjoy the book anyway, and certainly "The Red Door" is a good solid mystery, entertaining and vastly better than the majority of detective novels being produced today.

"The Red Door" is the twelfth installment of Charles Todd's mystery series that features Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge. Although there are a few minor characters from previous books, it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone. What you need to know is that Rutledge has an inner voice, a dead Scottish soldier named Hamish, who served under him during World War I. Sadly, Rutledge had been forced to execute Hamish for disobeying an order to advance on the enemy. Now, Hamish is his constant companion, haunting him with insight and advice.

The story begins with Rutledge searching for Walter Teller, who has mysteriously disappeared from a hospital. Rutledge interviews members of the Teller family: Walter's wife, Jenny, his brother, Peter, Peter's wife, Susannah, another brother, Edwin, and Edwin's wife, Amy. Other Tellers questioned include Walter's sister, Leticia , and his grandmother. After a few days, Walter reappears unharmed , but is unable to explain his absence.

Meanwhile, a woman has been found bludgeoned to death in the village of Hobson. Rutledge is sent to investigate, and discovers that she is also a Teller - Florence, a widow whose husband, Peter, never returned from the war. Could this be the same Peter Teller who is the brother of Walter? All of the Tellers seem to know something about why Florence was murdered, but none of them will reveal the truth.

"The Red Door" has an intricate plot with several twists and turns as different suspects appear to be guilty of Florence's murder. While all this is going on, Rutledge is also trying to apprehend a young man who is knifing people in London. This subplot has nothing to do with the main mystery and only serves as a distraction. None of the Tellers in the main plot are developed to the point where it matters to the reader. Along the way, a few are eliminated through accidents, which could have been suicides or murders. Things are pretty much wrapped up at the end, but by that point the reader may not care who is guilty.

A man suffering what seems to be a nervous breakdown resulting in his paralysis, disappears from the medical facility he was in. Apparently he managed to dress himself and walk out of the place without anyone noticing. Inspector Rutledge, still fighting his own demons from the war, is called in to investigate. After interviewing the family members, he gets the sense that they are keeping something from him, but every avenue he goes down seems to be a dead end. Walking along a bridge, deep in thought, he is accosted by a youth who attempts to rob him at knife point.

As oddly as he disappeared, the man reappears at the institution from which he walked away a week ago. But is everything as they seem? In the meantime, there seems to be someone on a robbing spree on the very bridge that Inspector Rutledge was on, and this time, a victim, a Member of Parliament was stabbed to death.

As if that wasn't enough for Inspector Rutledge to deal with, a woman is found bludgeoned to death behind her front door. Who could have wanted to kill a woman, who, by all accounts, had no enemies and was much liked in her village? Was there a relationship between her and the family of the man who had disappeared?

Before long, pieces of the puzzle start to fit, and certain secrets that were being kept start to emerge. But who would do anything to keep these secrets buried?
A wonderful page turner and keeps the mystery all the way to the end.

In this outing, Inspector Rutledge is still suffering from PTSD, brought on by the horrors of WWI, in the form of auditory hallucinations and nightmares. Because of the death of his best friend, the son of his godfather, Rutledge is having difficulty moving on. Nevertheless, he continues to do his job to the best of his excellent abilities, and while searching for a missing person, one Walter Teller, Rutledge himself is knifed by a mugger on Westminster Bridge. When a war widow living alone in Lancashire is murdered, he's surprised to learn her identity, Mrs. Peter Teller, because the brother of the missing man is also named Peter. But he already has a wife in London.

The Red Door has an intricate plot that is hard to describe without dropping inadvertent spoilers. Suffice it to say that there is no shortage of persons of interest in this case, which continues to surprise the reader up to the final chapter. In addition to discovering the identities of Rutledge's assailant and more than one murderer, and the whereabouts of Walter Teller, author Todd drops a pretty clear hint about why Rutledge obsesses about the friend lost in the war. It's a compelling mystery in the Russian doll style, with one set of questions contained within others, and well worth reading. I read an advanced reader copy, at times experienced bits of confusion over several of the sentences in this book; they were grammatically correct, but I couldn't quite puzzle out the meaning. Here's hoping the final published version takes care of that shortcoming.