Review: A FEARSOME DOUBT, Charles Todd - audio book

• Written by: Charles Todd
• Narrated by: Samuel Gillies
• Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins 
• Series: Inspector Ian Rutledge, Book 6, first published 2002
• Unabridged Audiobook from Audible

Synopsis (Audible)

In 1912 Ian Rutledge watched as a man was condemned to hang for the murders of elderly women. Rutledge helped gather the evidence that sent Ben Shaw to the gallows. And when justice was done, Rutledge closed the door on the case. But Shaw was not easily forgotten. Now, seven years later, that grim trial returns in the form of Ben Shaw's widow Nell, bringing Rutledge evidence she is convinced will prove her husband's innocence. It's a belief fraught with peril, threatening both Rutledge's professional stature and his faith in his judgment. But there is a darker reason for Rutledge's reluctance. Murder brings him back to Kent where, days earlier, he'd glimpsed an all-too-familiar face beyond the leaping flames of a bonfire. Soon an unexpected encounter revives the end of his own war, as the country prepares for a somber commemoration on the anniversary of the Armistice. To battle the unsettled past and the haunted present at the same time is an appalling mandate.

And the people around him - Among them the attractive widow of a friend, a remarkable woman who survived the Great Indian Mutiny; a bitter, dying barrister; and a man whose name he never knew - unwittingly compete with the grieving Nell Shaw. They'll demand more than Rutledge can give, unaware that he is already carrying the burden of shell shock, and the voice of Hamish MacLeod, the soldier he was forced to execute in the war. The killer in Marling is surprisingly adept at escaping detection. And Ben Shaw's past is a tangle of unsettling secrets that may or may not be true. Rutledge must walk a tortuous line between two murderers...one reaching out to ruin him, the other driven to destroy him.

My Take

If you are looking for some really authentic-feeling crime fiction based on the issues of  the social aftermath World War One, then here is a series for you. I haven't read them all, but I have in particular enjoyed the audio versions. Each of the titles seems to have a focus on an issue related to the War. The issues that emerge in  A FEARSOME DOUBT are the damage done to the survivors, whether physical as in the loss of a limb, or mental as in post traumatic stress or unresolved shell shock; another issue relates to those who profited by the war, while so many lost so much.

Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.8


I've also reviewed
A TEST OF WILLS -#1
SEARCH THE DARK -#3
A PALE HORSE -#10
4.5, A DUTY TO THE DEAD - Bess Crawford series
4.7, A LONELY DEATH -#13
4.6, THE CONFESSION - #14
4.7, HUNTING SHADOWS - #16

The full series according to Fantastic Fiction
1. A Test of Wills (1996)
2. Wings of Fire (1998)
3. Search the Dark (1999)
4. Legacy of the Dead (2000)
5. Watchers of Time (2001)
6. A Fearsome Doubt (2002)
7. A Cold Treachery (2005)
8. A Long Shadow (2006)
9. A False Mirror (2007)
10. A Pale Horse (2007)
11. A Matter of Justice (2008)
12. The Red Door (2009)
12.5. The Kidnapping (2010)
13. A Lonely Death (2011)
14. The Confession (2012)
15. Proof of Guilt (2013)
16. Hunting Shadows (2014)
16.5. Cold Comfort (2013)
17. A Fine Summer's Day (2015)