Caroline and Charles Todd

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Charles Todd is a pen name used by the American authors Caroline and Charles Todd. This mother-and-son writing team lives in the eastern United States, in North Carolina and Delaware, respectively.

The pseudonymous mystery authors are best known for a series of ten novels, set in post World War I England. These intelligent and literate books deal with the cases of Inspector Ian Rutledge, a veteran of the European campaigns who is attempting to pick up the pieces of his Scotland Yard career. However, he must keep his greatest burden a secret. Suffering from shell shock, he lives with the constant cynical, taunting voice of Hamish MacLeod, a young Scots soldier he was forced to execute on the battlefield for refusing an order.

[edit] Recognition and Awards

A Test of Wills (1996) was nominated for the John Creasey Award in the United Kingdom; other nominations are the Edgar Award, an Anthony and the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Dilys Award. The work won the Barry Gardiner Award from the Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association listed A Test of Wills one of the 100 favorite mysteries of the 20th Century. It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Wings of Fire (1998) received a nomination for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Dilys Award and was short listed for first Ellis Peters Mystery Award in the United Kingdom. Again The New York Times selected it as a Notable Book of the Year.

Search the Dark (1999) was the winner of the 1999 Reviewers Choice Award from the Romantic Times Magazine.

Legacy of the Dead (2000) earned the Todd's a third The New York Times Notable book listing.

A Cold Treachery (2005) received a Publishers Weekly: Starred Review.