New York Times
bestselling author Charles Todd takes readers into Scotland Yard
detective Ian Rutledge’s past—to his perplexing final case before the
outbreak of World War I.
On a fine summer’s day in June,
1914, Ian Rutledge pays little notice to the assassination of an
archduke in Sarajevo. An Inspector at Scotland Yard, he is planning to
propose to the woman whom he deeply loves, despite intimations from
friends and family that she may not be the wisest choice.
To the north on this warm and
gentle day, another man in love—a Scottish Highlander—shows his own dear
girl the house he will build for her in September. While back in
England, a son awaits the undertaker in the wake of his widowed mother’s
death. This death will set off a series of murders across England,
seemingly unconnected, that Rutledge will race to solve in the weeks
before the fateful declaration in August that will forever transform his
world.
As the clouds of war gather on
the horizon, all of Britain wonders and waits. With every moment at
stake, Rutledge sets out to right a wrong—an odyssey that will
eventually force him to choose between the Yard and his country, between
love and duty, and between honor and truth.