Legacy Of The Dead

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!

Average customer rating 5 (1 comments)

---

`

What a compelling story. Written by a U.S. East Coast mother and son team under the pseudonym, Charles Todd, they've taken the British Mystery Genre to a new level. This one grabbed me from the start and kept me guessing right up to the last 10 or 15 pages. The cliffhanging ending is an added benefit. It is 1919 and the main protagonist of the entire series, Inspector Ian Rutledge, still suffering from shell shock as it was called then, is dispatched to mollify Lady Maude Gray, whose missing daughter's bones may have been found in Scotland. The local inspector, Oliver, messed up with the powerful Lady Maude, who surprisingly uses her influence to assign Rutledge to discover whatever he can about her daughter's disappearance. He's is not at all happy to be sent to Scotland as so many men from Scotland had died under his command during World War I. Additionally he carries the voice of Hamish MacLeod, a man he had executed for insubordination, around in his head. It's how he copes with his guilt. The two of them have conversations in his mind about this investigation and other matters. To further complicate an already painful situation, the woman charged with killing Eleanor Gray is Hamish's ex-fiancee, Fiona. Fiona is accused of murdering Eleanor Gray so she could steal her new born baby and raise it as her own. The evidence is circumstantial but Fiona refuses to tell the truth because she is protecting someone and will risk the gallows rather than betray her promise. Ian vows to prove her innocense, especially after he discovers the gossiping and other strange doings that put suspicion on Fiona in the first place. Both the ensuing plot and the numerous characters Rutherford encounters make the entire story one of the most readable pure mysteries I've ever encountered. The authors impeccable research highlights the social norms of the time, which are sometimes infuriating, involving class and station as they did. But somehow Rutherford overcomes the societal barriers in his search for the truth. I highly recommend this book.