The Inspector Rutledge Mystery Series

I’ve just finished reading the 20^th installment of this fantastic post-WW1 Scotland Yard inspector who returns from the war and suffering from shell-shock. He has in his mind a Scots soldier who he ordered court-martialed for refusing an order. And the soldier haunts his mind. There’s more to it, but I will let you read about it.

Some readers say you can read them in any order, but I disagree. They have come out almost every year since 1996. But in terms of story advancement, they take place about one month further on, with the first one beginning in June 1919. The last one that I just read brings us to December 1920. But there is a catch.

The 17^th in the series is actually a prequel. And I recommend you read it first. It sheds light on many things and lets you compare Rutledge-before-the-war to Rutledge-after-the-war. It’s very interesting.

Rutledge has his own car and he gets to drive all over England and even to Scotland a couple of times. I believe it might be a Rolls Royce, but not sure. It’s rather indirectly referred to in the latest book.

The Author goes by Charles Todd, but it actually a mother-son writing team. One lives in Delaware (Mom) and the other (Son) lives in North Carolina. Together, they make a great team. You should go to their website. Some readers write reviews on every book and swear they can tell who writes what, or if one wrote most of the book. I’m not that good, but I can tell the writing, which was good in the beginning is even better now.

Actually, I recommend you go first to the “Stop You’re Killing Me!” website and find the author and all of the books listed. This site is a great site to check out any mystery author and series or non-series for that matter so you can read them in order if that is a big thing for you. It is for me.

I will write again in another day or two with a complete listing of each book in the series, in chronological story order, publication date, as well as where the mystery primarily takes place. This last item I particularly like since he goes all around in his Rolls (?).

Oh, did I mention that I have just begun re-reading them? This will be the second re-read. I've already read the prequel (1914) and the first post-war (June 1919) so far. 

Talk to you soon… 

(Gadugi 12)