The Black Ascot: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

Set in 1921, bestseller Todd’s solid 21st mystery featuring Scotland Yarder Ian Rutledge (after 2018’s The Gatekeeper) finds Rutledge defusing a hostage situation he encounters by chance in an English village. One of the people involved reports having heard of a recent sighting of Alan Barrington, a fugitive from justice. In 1910, Barrington was suspected of intentionally damaging a motorcar whose subsequent crash near the Ascot racetrack claimed the life of Blanche Fletcher-Munro and badly injured her husband, Harold. Despite a wide net cast by the police, Barrington evaded capture. Rutledge gets permission to pursue the new lead and seeks out Harold, whom Barrington held responsible for the suicide of his close friend Mark Thorne, Blanche’s first husband. The inspector finds reason to question the cause of Thorne’s death and the evidence against Barrington. Todd (the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd) fails to make the most of a late dramatic development involving the psychologically damaged Rutledge. Still, this long-running series shows no sign of losing steam. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore and Co. (Feb.)