THE GATE KEEPER

by Charles Todd; Harper Collins (320 pages, $26.99)

The scars of war have been the perennial theme of Charles Todd’s exquisite novels about Scotland Yard Insp. Ian Rutledge. Todd’s novels delve deep into the aftermath of WWI, while offering hope and insight.

In a series known for intelligent plots, Todd’s 20th novel about Ian excels. “The Gate Keeper” delivers an emotional novel about Ian, forever haunted by his role in The Great War as well as an involving story about how that war affected other former soldiers and the families and towns to which they came home.

It’s December 1920 and the troubled Ian is out for a drive in Suffolk when he comes upon a fresh crime. A woman is standing outside a car parked on a deserted road near the village of Wolfpit, tending to a man who had just been shot. Elizabeth MacRae explains that Stephen Wentworth had been driving her home from a late dinner party when a man stepped out in front of their car and, after a brief conversation, shot Stephen and then disappeared.

With the reluctant backing of Scotland Yard, Ian takes over the case to try to find out who would want to murder Stephen, a seemingly popular bookseller. But Ian discovers that not everyone liked Stephen, especially his own wealthy family. And WWI again comes into play as some people unreasonably resented those young soldiers who came back—like Stephen— when so many were killed. “Hate was not always earned,” Ian knows.

The remote village of Wolfpit makes for an atmospheric backdrop and fits well with the story. Although it is a fictional place, Todd bases it on a historical legend about the last wolf in England killed in medieval times. Although people seemed to like Stephen, he was often isolated. “The last of his kind, alone and lonely,” as Ian thinks of that last wolf. But he also is describing Stephen as well as himself. Ian suffers from shell shock, but he has to keep that to himself because it was a stigma in that era.

Charles Todd—the pseudonym of the writing team of mother, Caroline, and son, Charles—continues to richly uncover ways that WWI affected England.