A review by nonna7
A Pale Horse by Charles Todd

4.0

This is one of the early Inspector Rutledge books that I somehow missed. It takes place early April 1920. Rutledge has been given an odd assignment: to be as unobtrusive as possible while trying to find a man that once worked for the War Department and likes to wonder. He's living in one of several cottages that were built by a wealthy woman for "lepers." The "lepers" who live there are people who are trying to hide: one is hiding from both his family in England and a wealthy family in Mexico, another is a former soldier with an India regiment, another is a divorced woman whose husband not only divorced her, but left her virtually penniless. She lives in fear that he will try to kill her because he is courting a wealthy heiress whose family may not look kindly on their daughter marrying a divorced man. Yet another is a young man who is "simple" but good with his hands. However, he is also very large and the village fears him. He is a blacksmith who does delicate work that includes mending metal teapots. There is also an elderly man dying of tuberculosis as well as a mystery man whom nobody really knows much about.



When a man is found dead with a gas mask and an opera cloak wrapped around him along with a book about alchemy, suspicion falls on the local teacher. The book is explained early in the story, but it takes a while for the story to come out. Soon, people start dying. Rutledge's actions apparently have sparked a murder spree.



These books are always complex, but this one really was full of red herrings and dead ends. As with any Todd book, it's excellent.