It's 1921, and Scotland Yard again hands Inspector Ian Rutledge bizarrely challenging cases, but nothing quite like his latest: the woman presiding over a stately manor called Benton Abbey in sea salt-drenched Essex claims to have seen a brutal murder committed by Captain Nelson. There is no body, Nelson supposedly died during the Great War, yet Lady Benton seems perfectly calm and reasonable when interviewed. What's going on? With a 100,000-copy first printing.

In bestseller Todd's excellent 24th Ian Rutledge whodunit (after 2021's A Fatal Lie), the psychologically damaged Scotland Yard inspector, who's haunted by the ghost of a subordinate whom he was forced to execute for disobeying futile orders during WWI, has another specter to deal with in 1921. Lady Benton, an Essex noblewoman, has reported seeing one man murder another—but she identified the killer as a dead man, Captain Nelson, and the supposed corpse was never found. There's little doubt that Lady Benton was mistaken at best, as Nelson, who was stationed at the airfield built on her property during the war, was seen years earlier dying in a car crash, though whether the death was an accident or suicide is uncertain. Rutledge, who believes she did see something disturbing, probes both past and present to get at the truth. Todd (the mother-son team of Caroline and Charles Todd) has rarely been better at creating a creepy atmosphere to enhance their nuanced exploration of human darkness. Rutledge remains one of today's most fully rounded mystery leads. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore & Co. (Feb.)