A divided loyalty

Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge is handed one of the most baffling investigations of his career: a cold murder case with an unidentified victim and few clues to follow. Chief Inspector Brian Leslie, a respected colleague, was sent to Avebury, a village set inside a great prehistoric stone circle not far from Stonehenge. A young woman has been killed beside a mysterious, hooded, figure-like stone. No one recognizes her, or will admit to it, and no one can say how she came to be there. Despite a thorough investigation, her killer seems to have vanished.

Rutledge has just closed a case involving another apparently unknown woman. He is asked to take a second look at Leslie's inquiry and see whether he can identify the victim. He is convinced, though, that Chief Superintendent Jameson only hopes to tarnish his earlier success by watching him fail as well.

Where to begin? In Avebury, Rutledge finds very little to go on and slowly widens his search beyond the village. Unlikely, possibly even unreliable, clues begin pointing him toward an impossible solution. If he pursues it, he will draw the Yard's wrath and very likely be dismissed. But what does he owe this tragic woman, and where must his loyalty lie?

The novel belongs to the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd, the pen name of a mother and son writing team. Rutledge is a veteran of the First World War, and the stories are set in post-war England. He is haunted by the voice of Hamish, a soldier he knew at the front.