Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
War wounds surface in Todd’s compelling 19th
Each soldier has a private war, with external and internal battle scars that linger long after peace has been declared. Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge knows all too well how the battles continue. Physically, he came through WWI relatively unscathed, but his experiences left him shell shocked, a situation that continues to provide a poignant background to Charles Todd’s exciting series.
In “Racing the Devil,” Ian travels to an economically depressed area of East Sussex where the local constable has asked for Scotland Yard’s help in investigating a car accident that killed a local rector. That a fatal accident would happen during a heavy rain on the steep, narrow roads that hug a cliff is nothing new. But there is evidence another automobile may have forced the car over. Plus, Rector Wright was driving a vehicle owned by local landowner Captain Standish, without the officer’s permission.
Wright and Standish both served during WWI, but it is the captain’s experience that piques Ian’s interest. Standish was one of five British officers who, on the eve of the Battle of the Somme, had a drink in a makeshift officers’ bar, vowing to return to France a year after the war ends — racing automobiles from Paris to Nice. That race was to be an affirmation that these soldiers survived the war, but it didn’t go as well as planned. Now, in 1920, a year after that race, Ian wonders if Standish was the real target of the accident that killed the rector.
Ian’s investigation centers on the officers who shared that drink back in France — strangers united only because of the war. High suspense and characters so well-defined it feels as if one is visiting these villages along with Ian highlight “Racing the Devil,” the 19th novel from Caroline and Charles Todd, the mother and son writing team who publish under the name Charles Todd.
The authors continue to show sections of England ravaged by the war and neglect. The fictional East Dedham and Burling Gap illustrate how villages not bombed during WWI were affected in other ways. The loss of young men killed during the war is overwhelming; the edges of the chalk cliff crumble without warning, bringing homes closer to destruction; and a derelict lighthouse is a silent symbol of despair. At the same time, there is a spirit of resolve and hope among the village residents, as well as in Ian.
Todd’s rich storytelling shines in “Racing the Devil,” showing an England forever changed by The Great War, yet determined to survive.