I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14077328

The first I've read by this author (who happens to be two writers, mother and son).

It's a period mystery, taking place in 1920, and featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard. Rutledge is given the investigation of the death of a man on a street. He had apparently been hit by a car and dragged some distance, but the murder had not taken place where the man lay. Identifying the victim became one of the most difficult tasks in the investigation, taking Rutledge to Essex, to Surrey, to London, and back and forth and back and forth, in his private motorcar. Because of a watch found on the victim he is able to look into the disappearance of a young man who is the heir to a wine making and importing business. He meets his sister, his former fiancee and current fiancee, and sundry other village characters.

The case becomes more rather than less complicated, and at the end I wasn't at all sure it was solved. Maybe I missed something?

I should note that Rutledge is a veteran of the first world war ("the great war") and suffers a form of PTSD (called shell shock at the time). He is accompanied by an imaginary companion who speaks his Scottish mind all the time. Fortunately, Rutledge knows the voice is not real, yet he also knows enough to pay it some attention.

I had a little trouble following the threads. I am not sure if that was my fault or the authors'. There are a lot of characters and I generally knew one from the other but after a while they seemed to pile up. Perhaps the next book in the series will clear up some of the mystery I was left with, or perhaps not. ( )

I have read many of the Charles Todd books because they are one of my favorite authors. I have liked this book the least. I found the ending absolutely confusing. I am glad that other reviewers have had problems with this book so it isn't just me. It seems that there is a murder victim yet to be found. Who is Baxter, and what is he actually doing? How could the police arrest anybody for murder without having found victims? The book just left too many questions unanswered.

Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge works a murder case in summer of 1920. The corpse is unidentified, but not the obvious choices. People are missing, the Acting Inspector takes the expedient choice to settle the case, but Rutledge tries to find the true answer. I've read many in the series and this novel might be one of my favorites, so it was surprising to see how many of the reviewers didn't like it. It seems to have the right balance of personalities and locations to make a great read. The mystery part had plenty of red herrings, but the flow was straight-forward. ( )

Not my favorite Inspector Ian. Too many characters, too many plotlines. I read it, re-read the ending, then asked my mom (who has also read it), but I still can't figure out if one of the characters did in fact die and if so, which of the many unidentified bodies was his. ( )

Typical Rutledge; gadabout the countryside, angst about his life and gratuitous advice from Hamish as he tries to identify a hit and run death probably before they were called such. The corpse could be from a sort of dysfunctional family with the only visible member; the remnant female who frequently proclaims her "woe is me" life. A cast off fiance becomes a damsel in distress when her grandfather confesses to a crime that Rutledge's new boss wants cleared quickly.
However, all this leads to an ending that was still confusing after several readings. Who done it and who was done as well as who is buried in the backyard are left like dangling participles with who is Baxter also to be determined. ( )