In A LONELY DEATH, book 13 of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge series the war- damaged Rutledge is called to the Sussex village of Eastfield to investigate the garroting deaths of three men. In each mouth is found a pasteboard identity disc with the name and rank of a stranger. The discs were used by the military to identify bodies for burial. The murdered men all served in the military, but not in the same unit. As Inspector Rutledge painstakingly unravels the threads of the past he faces challenges from the case and elsewhere that could bring him to the brink of death himself.

As so many fans have come to expect, A LONELY DEATH is gem of a mystery. The killer is clever, the subtle red herrings deeply buried and the denouement is viscerally satisfying. Charles Todd pulls us deeply into the story from the first page. The victims are introduced with raw immediacy, as Todd uses miniscule every-day details to create vivid lasting impressions in the reader's mind.

Ian Rutledge, haunted by a guilt-spawned voice only he can hear struggles to keep focus on his job between episodes of shell-shock. His vulnerability helps make him one of the most fascinating sleuths out there.

The setting of the books, England after the Great War, is brought to us with almost painful intimacy, highlighting the persistence of damage to the individual and the community, the hidden wounds that continue to cost lives after the harsh, numbing blows of the war itself.

I highly recommend any of Charles Todd's books whether in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series or those featuring Bess Crawford, war nurse.

(Charles Todd is the name used by the mother and son writing duo Caroline and Charles Todd.)