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The first question sets the tone for the rest of the story: who was the intended victim? Was it the groom? Or was it Captain Hutchinson, standing only inches away from the groom? Either way, it was a hell of a shot. The next victim is a Mr Swift, shot while giving a speech. He was running for public office. So many possible connections to track down, to rule out.
Inspector Rutledge finds himself trekking all over rural England following leads, interviewing people who have no desire whatsoever to talk to him. As always, people don't want to speak ill of the dead; Captain Hutchinson is an exception to that rule, at least in some quarters. Rutledge focuses on finding connections from him to Percy, or to anyone in Percy's life. This eventually proves productive.
As always, Hamish has his contributions to make, not all of them welcome or useful. Between Hamish and the claustrophobia brought on by the impenetrable fogs, Rutledge is even more on edge than usual. He may be hunting shadows, but the shadows are haunting him.
One of the many qualities making Todd such a wonderful writer is the ability to build characters. We never actually encounter Hutchinson as a living person, yet by the end of the book we feel we know him. This is true of minor characters as well; we know them in the same way we know our local barber or the couple living down the street - a general idea of who they are and the outlines could be filled in any time.
Setting plays a major role in HUNTING SHADOWS; we first encounter Ian Rutledge in the middle of a fog so deep he could easily have been killed by tripping over something, and the sounds he hears could be coming from right next to him or yards away. Somehow, fog is not the same as darkness; one can be just as blind in one as the other but the gestalt is very different. Todd brings that home with a vengeance.
HUNTING SHADOWS is also an exquisite portrait of the various classes that existed in England right after the Great War, and how the changes brought by the war were reflected by those classes. Fans of Downton Abbey will understand these changes. The Rutledge series by Charles Todd would be an exemplary series to read for more insight into that time period; HUNTING SHADOWS is an excellent addition to the series.
§ P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, January 2014
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