Inspector Ian Rutledge from Scotland Yard is called out to a small town in the South of England, the Sussex coast, when a cleric is killed in a car accident and it looks like foul play. He investigates but before he knows what happened, other people start dying.  It is soon after the Great War, and Rutledge is haunted by many terrible memories of his time in the army. One of the men who died back there, Hamish, is a constant companion in his head, giving him advice and engaging him in dialog. Racing the Devil is a rather standard historical detective mystery with a striking theme of the moral trauma experienced by so many of the men who fought in the war.

The authors, a mother and son writing team from the USA who go by the pen name Charles Todd, actually live in the USA, and there is a hint of stereotype to the characters. They have been writing about a book a year since 1996. The plot is detailed and the description of the characters is more compelling than the mystery itself. Simon Prebble performs the unabridged audiobook, and as one of the most prominent audio performers of male British slightly upper class accents, his voice is very recognizable. It’s a reliable reading that sooths the listener.

© 2017 Christian Perring

Christian Perring lives and teaches in New York.