A False Mirror
by Charles Todd
Published by William Morrow
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Reviewed by Amanda K. Collins
Its prose tinged with memory and regret, this tenth Charles Todd novel to feature Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge, is a superbly crafted tale which, at its heart, is about relationships.
Having read the earlier novels in the series, the relationship between Rutledge and Hamish is by now a familiar one, and it's difficult to imagine one without the other. Indeed, Hamish, whatever he may be, has become a necessary tool for the excavation of Rutledge's inner, thoughts and is sometimes more acute an observer of the nuances of their surroundings than Rutledge.
Indeed, the novel's more conventional relationships, between spouses,
sweethearts, former lovers, friends and enemies, all show how our observations of one another come together to form life as we know it, and how one misreading can destroy the whole fragile framework.
Working to uncover the perpetrator of a series of murders in London's Green Park, Rutledge is surprised to be taken off the London case and ordered to Hampton Regis, a picturesque fishing village on the south coast of England.
Stephen Mallory, who served with and despised Rutledge in the war, has been accused of brutally beating a local man, Matthew Hamilton. Mallory is convinced he will never be treated fairly by the local authorities because he was engaged to Hamilton's wife before the war, and has taken his former fiancee and her maid hostage, declaring he will only negotiate with Rutledge.
Rutledge knows there is more to this situation than local authorities would have him believe--if only because Mallory has chosen him as his intermediary. When the nearly comatose Hamilton disappears from the local physician's house, leaving a dead body in his wake, Rutledge becomes convinced that Mallory is innocent, and Hamilton's beating might be at the root of something more complex than imagined.
On its surface, A False Mirror, is a conventional and highly readable English murder mystery, but a closer look reveals a complex and engrossing study of the nature of seeing and being seen that anyone who enjoys tight plotting and deep characterization will enjoy.
Armchair Interviews says: A 5-star read!