Charles Todd's A Fatal Lie: A Gripping Historical Mystery Novel

dodo5: Very detailed and makes you feel immersed in post-war Wales. Tense moments and complicated people keep you very involved. Always look forward to another mystery being solved by Inspector Rutledge.

United States on Sep 01, 2023

C.F..: I thought this mother and son duo did a wonderful job or recreating the post Great War atmosphere. My new favourite author(s)

Canada on Apr 23, 2023

Matthew Wickware: Great story

Canada on Mar 28, 2023

Barbara McNamara: Charles Todd is a great writing team. Suspenseful plots good character development and excellent dialogue. Another wonderful book.

United States on Mar 21, 2023

toots: Very good though it seemed there was a lot of forwarding and reversing to all the little towns!! But as usual when I was really tired of the shenanigans, it ended!

United States on Mar 20, 2023

IRAP: Ian Rutledge is one of my favourite fictional characters. There is so much atmosphere to live off in twenties England. It just seems that some Hollywood voice has told the authors to put more action in and it’s damaged these books. Improbable distances moved for the time and age and roads and unnecessary attacks that only take away from the suspense. The beginning was great and I already thought we’d be back in the first few books’ brilliant atmosphere and suspenseful slow pace. But no, Rutledge is sent gallivanting up and down the countryside again for no reason that profits the storyline. One stops caring who did it in the end. Please concentrate on one or maybe two places and their characters and the story would be so much better. Someone take away Rutledge’s car keys please!

United Kingdom on Oct 17, 2021

David Kloth: All of the Charles Todd books are great. I started with the first, and read through them all in order. That includes the Inspector Rutledge stories, as well as the Bess Crawford novels. There are also a couple of short stories thrown into the mix that you won't want to miss.

The only problem with reading all of a book series is when you've finished them all. I felt that with Raymond Chandler, P.D. James, Conan Doyle, Stieg Larsson, etc. They're all gone, and there won't be any more.

Fortunately for us, Charles Todd (actually the writing duo of son Charles and mother Caroline) is still with us, and even more important, still writing Rutledge and Crawford stories. The bad news, here, is that we have to wait for the next book in the series.

"A Fatal Lie" is well worth the wait. In this tale, Ian Rutledge is taken out of London to the countryside because the local Constabulary is stumped. At first, it appears as if Rutledge will be stumped, too. Slowly, one piece at a time, Rutledge unravels the mystery and ties it all to its starting point: a lie told years before. You have to find out the rest on your own, but you'll enjoy the trip.

United States on May 22, 2021

Maggie May: I have read all the Ian Rutledge books and was looking forward to this one. However, I found it very draggy, and with much to-ing and fro-ing by Rutledge and the murderer was only revealed in the last bit of book and was not there from the beginning. Book went on too long and i felt the authors wanted to cram all kinds of exciting bits in at once. Not the best book in this series.

Canada on Mar 18, 2021

J. Lesley: One of my favorite author teams takes their police detective all the way to Wales for this 23rd story in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series. I was so pleased to find myself in Wales because Charles Todd has the gift of making me feel completely comfortable with any settings for their stories which I'm not personally familiar with. I found myself able to visualize the surroundings quite vividly which adding dimension to the stories. I was also unfamiliar with the Bantam Division of soldiers from World War I and a lot of information was given without any feeling that it was only an information dump.

This story takes place in 1921 with Rutledge practically chained to his desk at Scotland Yard doing paperwork because Chief Superintendent Markham doesn't want to be reminded of how much his own reputation is enhanced by Rutledge solving the previous case. When a Chief Constable in a northern Welsh county asks for help from Scotland Yard Markham is delighted to send Rutledge about as far away as possible. A body has been found in the River Dee under the Aqueduct and there is a question of whether it was an accident or suicide. So Inspector Rutledge drives from London to Wales to...

United States on Feb 28, 2021

Amazon Customer: Another great book by Mother son duo for 5 stars. I am though giving 1 star to Amazon on the preorder savings. Usually with preorder books I received a much bigger savings than the 36 cents they gave me. To top it off though, on the weekend I was in my local Chapters Indigo and see the book on the new releases with 40% off. The book was only $21 and change. I was very sad. I have preorder many books in the past from Amazon and then received an email with a great preorder savings. Oh, well, chalk it up to experience!

Canada on Feb 22, 2021