Fictional Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge tackles murder cases throughout Britain, from London to Cornwall to Dorset to Durham, giving readers both a delicious mystery and a post World War I travelogue.
His creators, however, have a Delaware background. Caroline Todd lives in Delaware while co-author Charles Todd, her son, grew up here. (He now lives in North Carolina.) Together, as Charles Todd, they pen the Ian Rutledge novels.
- If You Go
- Off the Page:
An Evening with Charles Todd
When: January 3, 2012 at 7pm.
Where: Newark Free Library. - The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited to a first-come, first-served basis.
- The Newark Free Library is located at 750 Library Avenue in Newark, DE. You can visit their website at: nccde.org/newark/.
The 15th book in the Rutledge series, “The Confession,” is available Tuesday, Jan. 3, and in honor of its release, the Todds will appear at the Newark Free Library at 7 p.m Tuesday. They will answer questions and sign books, available for sale as a library fundraiser.
Never heard of Caroline Todd? You may be living near her In Northern Delaware, but you may not know it. Although it's no longer a secret that two people write the series, they still use "stage names" in the literary world. Consequently, it's common for fans to debate the authors' real names and hometowns on online message boards.
Apparently, the Todds are good at maintaining the mystery. “Some folks in Delaware know who we are, of course,” Caroline said, “but we try and keep our professional world and our private lives separates. For one thing, its nice to have a life apart from the books, and for another, other members of the family are out there and as a courtesy, we try to let them live their own lives too.”
The Todds answered questions via email, which they’re clearly comfortable with. They like collaborating via the Internet on their books. Charles has said in televised interviews that there are too many distractions when they’re sharing the same physical space. “If I send her a lengthy email, that’s what she’s concentrating on,” he said at the time. When they are both together, they must work in separate rooms—preferably a floor apart rather than on the same level.
The prolific writers did not set out to become detective novelists. Caroline has a bachelor’s degree in English literature and history studies and a master’s in international relations. She worked for the Associated Press before her marriage and dabbled in short stories.
Charles has a bachelor’s degree in communication and a culinary arts degree. The family moved to Delaware when Caroline’s husband, John, got a job in the state when Charles was young. “And we’ve been here ever since,” she said.
Charles has long shared his mother’s love of detective stories and history. He’s especially fascinated by the wars that have helped shape history. A relative was a flyer in World War I.
“His mind works very much the way mine does, and he’s read most of the same books growing up, saw the same films, traveled and had similar experiences to mine,” Caroline said.
Although Charles, who’s described himself as a “corporate troubleshooter,” handled non-fiction writing for his company, he didn’t turn to fiction with a passion until he and his mother decided to give it a go in 1994, partly to combat the boredom that Charles experienced while traveling for work. Consequently, Ian Rutledge was born.
A World War I veteran suffering from what we now call post-traumatic stress syndrome, Rutledge returns to his job at Scotland Yard to face a bully of a boss and the ghost of fellow soldier Hamish MacLeod, who died horrifically in battle, giving Rutledge a bad case of survivor’s guilt.
The Todds selected one pen name partly for marketing reasons. “Try to read the name on the back of a book,” Caroline said. “If you chose to use Charles and Caroline Todd, it wouldn’t be visible from more than 10 paces.” Since Charles is shorter than Caroline, Charles was the winning first name.
The first novel, “A Test of Wills,” lacked an agent. Yet St. Martin’s Press saw the potential and published the book in 1996. According to the New York Times Book Review: “Todd has written a first novel that speaks out, urgently and compassionately, for a long-dead generation and a world he never knew…A meticulously wrought puzzle.”
Others novels followed, each of which covered a month of Rutledge’s life, starting in June 1919. “It used to take a year to do one Rutledge book,” Charles said. “Now we have a greater understanding of the period and the war.”
Not content to just to do research, they frequently travel to England to experience where Rutledge may have walked. “We’re always stumbling across a perfect location,” Caroline said. But sometimes that site is stashed in their minds for the future. At the end of the travel day, they brainstorm.
They never outline their stories. “Never have. Never will,” Caroline said. “Characters seem to grow out of the story and the setting.” The writing, she added, is completely shared, and both agree what goes into the final draft. “We aren’t worried about egos,” she said. “Rutledge or Bess count more than we do, so any disagreements are easily resolved by asking what’s best for them.”
Bess is Bess Crawford, the heroine of a new series that debuted with “An Impartial Witness.” A World War I nurse, she is an “amateur sleuth,” Caroline said. She amends that term by explaining. “She doesn’t go out and look for a murder to investigate.”
Their protagonists’ very different backgrounds lets the authors explore Word War I’s effects both during and after the war. They are now writing two books a year, one for each main character. “It’s hectic and it’s fun,” Charles said. “Bess has found her own audience, and we are happy to let her loose.”
The new Rutledge book, “The Confession,” revolves around a man’s confession to a crime he didn’t commit. The man is later found dead in the Thames. Rutledge travels to Essex to unearth clues. As always, the authors hope the audience will be surprised by who turns out to be the killer.
The books have garnered fans in Germany, England, Canada and the United States, as well as other countries. They’ve been translated to Japanese, Italian, Danish and Russian. Book tours may take the authors to California, Virginia, Wisconsin, New York and Maryland. This year they will go to Salt Lake City. They do interviews on television, by telephone and, as is the case here, by email. There are mystery conventions and speaking engagements at dedicated bookstores, such as The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale.
And, on Jan. 3, they will be in Newark. “All the while, we are working on one of the books, mind you,” Charles said. “We wouldn’t have it any other way, if we were given a chance.”
