Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

A Divided Loyalty

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge is assigned one of the most baffling investigations of his career—a cold murder case with an unidentified victim and a cold trail with few clues to follow.

Chief Inspector Brian Leslie, a respected colleague of Ian Rutledge's, is sent to Avebury, a village set inside a great prehistoric stone circle not far from Stonehenge.

A young woman has been murdered next to a mysterious, hooded, figure-like stone, but no one recognizes her—or admits to it. And how did she get there? Despite a thorough investigation, it appears that her killer has simply vanished.

Rutledge, returning from the conclusion of a case involving another apparently unknown woman, is asked to take a second look at Leslie's inquiry, to see if he can identify this victim. But Rutledge is convinced Chief Superintendent Jameson only hopes to tarnish his earlier success once he also fails.

Where to begin? He too finds very little to go on in Avebury, slowly widening his search beyond the village—only to discover that unlikely—possibly even unreliable—clues are pointing him toward an impossible solution, one that will draw the wrath of the Yard down on him, and very likely see him dismissed if he pursues it. But what about the victim—what does he owe this tragic woman? Where must his loyalty lie?

  • Creators

  • Series

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 25, 2019
      Set in 1921, bestseller Todd’s middling 22nd whodunit featuring Insp. Ian Rutledge (after 2019’s The Black Ascot) opens with a suspenseful tease. Scotland Yard Chief Insp. Brian Leslie is dispatched to Wiltshire, where an unidentified woman, who’s been fatally stabbed, has been found inside Avebury, a Stonehenge-like prehistoric stone circle. Leslie is startled to recognize the victim and fears that his reaction has alerted his colleagues that he knew the deceased, even as he reassures himself that, as the officer in charge, he can control the inquiry and its outcome. When Leslie fails to solve the murder, the Avebury case is reassigned to Rutledge, who recently handled a similar crime successfully. Rutledge finds himself in the awkward position of reviewing a superior’s work and questioning the man’s choices. The answers as to why Leslie felt guilt after seeing the woman’s corpse and what she meant to him are less satisfying than the series’ many superior solutions. Todd (the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd) has done better. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore and Co.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In post-WWI England, Scotland Yard's Detective Ian Rutledge is called to take a look at a case previously investigated by a colleague. Simon Prebble narrates with confidence and ease, helping to create an almost palpable atmosphere that runs through the story. The atmosphere emanates both from the mysterious setting of Avebury and the time period, with characters seeking to move on from the war despite their wounds, both physical and psychological. Prebble is the perfect voice for this story, capturing the doggedness of Rutledge and bringing to life the other key characters. In particular, his portrayal of Hamish, a voice in Rutledge's mind, is strong and authentic. While this is the 22nd title in the series, it should still be an enjoyable listen even for those new to this series. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2019

      A stranger is found dead near a towering stone figure in Avesbury, a town built within a prehistoric stone circle, and the scant clues regarding her murder have all run cold. Even Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Brian Leslie is stumped. So Chief Inspector Jameson sends along Ian Rutledge--hoping, suspects Rutledge, that he will fail ignominiously--and what he finds calls into question his loyalty to the Yard. With a 100,000-copy first printing.Thrillers

      Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      December 1, 2019
      Inspector Ian Rutledge's 22nd case revolves around two young women found dead in utterly unexpected places. Scheduled to give evidence in an ongoing investigation, Rutledge can't go to the village of Avebury--where a body has been found stabbed to death in the center of a circle of prehistoric stones--in the place of Chief Inspector Brian Leslie when Rutledge's nemesis, Chief Superintendent Markham, sends Leslie there when he'd been looking forward to a couple of days off. Instead, Rutledge ends up going to the Shropshire village of Tern Bridge, where a woman eventually identified as Bath schoolmistress Serena Palmer has been stabbed and tossed into a grave dug the day before for someone else. After a witness's unexpectedly keen eye and sharp memory puts Rutledge on a trail that leads with disconcerting suddenness to Serena Palmer's killer, he's sent to Avebury after all, since Leslie's conscientiously thorough inquiries have identified neither the killer nor the victim. This mystery, Rutledge finds, is just as murky as the Shropshire murder was clear, and he despairs that he'll ever have anything to add to Leslie's report. Constantly threatened by Markham, who's still holding the letter of resignation Rutledge submitted to him after his last case (The Black Ascot, 2019, etc.), and intermittently needled by the ghost of Cpl. Hamish McLeod, the corporal he executed in a trench in 1916 when he refused to lead troops into further fighting in the Somme, Rutledge struggles with a case whose every lead--a necklace of lapis lazuli beads, a trove of letters written to the victim--leads him not so much to enlightenment as to ever deepening sadness. The final twist may not surprise eagle-eyed readers, but it will reveal why Todd's generic-sounding title is painfully apt. If you're in a receptive mood, nobody evokes long postwar shadows or overwhelming postwar grief better than Todd.

      COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      January 1, 2020
      How do you solve a murder when you can't identify the victim? That's the question Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge has to answer when his boss sends him to the small village of Avebury, not far from Stonehenge, in 1921, to take a fresh look at the murder of a young woman found by a mysterious stone. A colleague of Rutledge's got nowhere with his investigation, and now Rutledge may be facing the same result. It doesn't help that the meager (and possibly untrustworthy) clues suggest an unbelievable explanation, prompting Rutledge to wonder if this is the case that will finally stump him. With more than 20 novels in nearly 25 years, this is a series, written by a mother-and-son team under the Charles Todd pseudonym, that shows no signs of slowing down. As always, this one combines crisp plotting with stylish prose. Ideal for historical-mystery devotees.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading