Charles Todd--A FATAL LIE

DEBORAH CROMBIE: You all know how thrilled I am whenever there is a new Charles Todd book! I have been reading both the Inspector Ian Rutledge series and the Bess Crawford series from the very first book and I eagerly await each new installment. How this mother and son (and my good friends!) writing team manages to be so prolific, I don't know!

Caroline Todd is here today to tell us about the newest Rutledge, A FATAL LIE. I loved this book! First, the setting is fabulous. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in North Wales is not only one of the wonders of English Victorian engineering--it is also old home territory for me as I lived not too far from it in Chester. I know Shropshire, too, where other parts of the story take place, and have often visited my friends in Ludlow. And there are narrowboats in this book!

I think the Todds were very brave to have taken a narrowboat across the aqueduct, however. I'm not sure I'd have had the nerve. And no way would I walk across it!

Here's Caroline!

CAROLINE: One of the great things about writing is when you find “inspiration,” an idea that grows and blooms and finally takes shape as a book.  You just never know where that inspiration will come from. A photograph—that was THE BLACK ASCOT—a place—A DIVIDED LOYALTY—something we’d read that triggered NO SHRED OF EVIDENCE—it could be anything.  And suddenly your imagination is alive and taking that idea seriously.

           For A FATAL LIE, that inspiration was the Telford Aqueduct in northern Wales, where we took a narrowboat across the valley of the River Dee and looked down at the water far below. If you fell from the horse walk beside us, you’d be killed. We were asked when we got to the other side of the valley and stepped out of the narrowboat whether we’d like to walk back across. Neither of us volunteered!

            But then the question was, who fell? Or was he pushed….

           And over dinner we began to find answers.

           From that beginning, we found ourselves with the story of a good and decent man, whose body was found floating in the river, several days after he’d fallen. As Rutledge searched for the victim’s identity, everyone he interviewed seemed to have a secret they were willing to keep at any price, protected by a tangle of lies and half-truths. And Rutledge had to untangle all the lies, before he could discover which among them was the fatal lie, the one that had sent Sam to his death.

           The more we explored the lives of the people who knew Sam best, the more intrigued we were.  I think that’s the bedrock of a good mystery, that feeling of what’s going to come of this story? You’ve set yourself a puzzle—who killed this man?—and why? And then you begin to realize that the characters have taken on a life of their own and are leading you into paths you never anticipated.

           One of our favorite people was the elderly lawyer who sat like a spider in the center of a web, knowing more than he told, lying when it suited him, confusing the inquiry where he could, and trying to lead Rutledge down rabbit holes of deceit. He wasn’t easy to write, but the challenge of getting him right was well worth the effort because he gave so much to the story.

           And we got to see a side of Rutledge that was interesting too.

           One of the most fascinating aspects of England in the early years of the Twentieth Century, was how insular places were. Most people never traveled more than twenty miles from home. And crime was generally local too. What happened in a Shropshire village wasn’t reported to a Cheshire or Welsh village. A man might kill in Wales, move on and commit another crime in Shrewsbury—and chances were, no one connected the two. This makes life particularly difficult for even the best policemen trying to get to the bottom of a crime. Watching how Rutledge put together facts and leads, untangled the lies, and finally brought a killer to justice made us eager to see what the next day brought to the book.

           Why are we so intrigued with Rutledge—and Bess? Because they take us into a different world that we’re exploring with each mystery we write. We had always read mysteries because they were such terrific puzzles. And now we enjoy creating our own…

A peaceful Welsh village is thrown into turmoil when a terrified boy stumbles on a body in a nearby river. The man appears to have fallen from the canal aqueduct spanning the valley. But there is no identification on the body, he isn’t a local, and no one will admit to having seen him before. With little to go on, the village police turn to Scotland Yard for help.

In one of his most puzzling cases, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge must delve deep into a dead man’s life and his past to find a killer determined to keep dark secrets buried.

DEBS: Caroline, I have to ask, did you learn to pronounce Pontcysyllte?? Spelling it is hard enough!

READERS, tell us if you'd walk across that bridge!