The Gate Keeper: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery (Inspector Ian Rutledge… (edition 2018)

I found The Gate Keeper to be a more enjoyable book to read than Racing the Devil, the previous book in the series. The story is definitely more compelling in this book and the mystery of the man killed by a stranger in the night on a desolated road is perplexing. It's the kind of mystery where much of the investigation hangs on interviews of those around the dead man. Which to be honest, can be a bit of a problem when a book's story isn't that engaging. This book handles that in a good way, although there are moments in the book when I felt that the investigation didn't move along especially fast. When it felt like nothing really happened other than Ian Rutledge trying to figure out what to do next.

Besides the case are Ian Rutledge dealing with his sister's wedding. He's both happy for her and sad that this will bring a change in their lives. He's still dealing with the haunting of Hamish and meeting some really awful characters in this book isn't brightening his mood. Thankfully Melinda Crawford shows up to lend him some support. Although I'm still waiting for Bess Crawford to make an appearance...

The Gate Keeper's best part is the end when a little hint leads Ian Rutledge the right way and finally to the killer. It's an interesting case and the ending, the reason for the killing felt genuinely surprising. Without Ian Rutledge's tenacity would the killer probably have managed to get away with it...

I want to thank William Morrow for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review! ( )

I love this series. So good on the psychological effects of shell shock, and the economic and cultural changes right after WWI. Great characters, complex mysteries. ( )

Another entry in the long series of Ian Rutledge stories- with both his family story and random events worked in as he solve more crime and battles his inner demons, 'assisted " by his former subordinate Hamish- who reminds him of his past and torments his present. I received this as an Early Reviewers book through Library Thing.

The Gate Keeper (2018) (Insp. Rutledge # 20) by Charles Todd. What an odd story. Inspector Rutledge, for reasons explained in the book, is driving late at night through the countryside with no particular destination in mind. He chances upon a stopped car, a young woman and a dead man.
So begins this twisted tale that hinges about a small town book store that the young man had purchased, Estranged parents, a love interest that seems more like a convenience than a desire and a convoluted search for the reasons behind the murder do not truly add to the tale. Toss in another odd murder and you have a mystery, not not a very good one. Add to that a last moment revelation and you have a story that limps along.
Still if you have read the rest of this long running series, you expect to have a humble addition that is not worthy of the past books. I expect the next book to be better. ( )

A mother will do anything, whether good or evil, for her son. If Charles Todd's 2018 novel “The Gate Keeper” carries a message, that is it.

Not one of the better novels in the excellent Ian Rutledge series, this one makes good reading nonetheless. The Scotland Yard inspector has the weekend off to attend a wedding, but unable to sleep after the wedding he is driving down a country road in the middle of the night when he comes upon a murder scene.

Stephen Wentworth, an owner of a bookstore, had been driving a young woman home from a party when they are stopped by someone standing in the road. When Wentworth gets out of his car, he is shot and killed after a brief conversation. Rutledge happens along just minutes later.

It appears to be a murder without a motive. The only person Rutledge can find who didn't like Wentworth is his own mother, who blames him for the death of her favorite son, Stephen's brother, when they were sleeping together as small boys.

The investigation goes nowhere until there is another murder of another well-liked man with no apparent connection to Wentworth. Rutledge later hears of another murder in another village that sounds similar. Again there is no apparent connection or motive.

Rutledge has the strangest sidekick in mystery fiction, the voice of Hamish, a Scottish soldier whom he executed during the Great War in France after Hamish refused an order to lead his men on yet another suicidal charge against the German line. Now Hamish offers advice about his former officer's murder case, and this time Rutledge needs all the help he can get. ( )