“Todd’s astute character studies . . . offer a fascinating cross section of postwar life. . . . A satisfying puzzle-mystery.” — The New York Times Book Review Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is assigned one of the most baffling investigations of his career: an unsolved murder case with an unidentified victim and a cold trail with few clues to follow A woman has been murdered at the foot of a … follow
A woman has been murdered at the foot of a megalith shaped like a great shrouded figure. Chief Inspector Brian Leslie, one of the Yard’s best men, is sent to investigate the site in Avebury, a village set inside a prehistoric stone circle not far from Stonehenge. In spite of his efforts, Leslie is not able to identify her, much less discover how she got to Avebury—or why she died there. Her killer has simply left no trace.
Several weeks later, when Ian Rutledge has returned from successfully concluding a similar case with an unidentified victim, he is asked to take a second look at Leslie’s inquiry. But Rutledge suspects Chief Superintendent Markham simply wants him to fail.
Leslie was right—Avebury refuses to yield its secrets. But Rutledge slowly widens his search, until he discovers an unexplained clue that seems to point toward an impossible solution. If he pursues it and he is wrong, he will draw the wrath of the Yard down on his head. But even if he is right, he can’t be certain what he can prove, and that will play right into Markham’s game. The easy answer is to let the first verdict stand: Person or persons unknown. But what about the victim? What does Rutledge owe this tragic young woman? Where must his loyalty lie?
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It is not an author that I was familiar with. I enjoyed the book Ian Rutledge is an inspector for Scotland Yard. He is sent to try to solve a murder that another Scotland Yard Inspector had failed to solve and identify the name of the victim. He takes the report and starts to dig deeper and into other areas until he comes to a startling conclusion of who the killer should be. But is he right or not. If he isn’t his boss will enjoy seeing him fail.
I enjoyed this book, but I must admit in the beginning it dragged a little and I did not see how it all fit together, but as I got into it more it got more interesting. This story has a lot of twists and turns until it reaches its conclusion.