The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – A Game of Fear: A Novel (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries, 24) by Charles Todd

Episode Date: February 27, 2022

A Game of Fear: A Novel (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries, 24) by Charles Todd In this newest installment of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is faced with his most perplexing case yet: a murder with no body, and a killer who can only be a ghost. Spring, 1921. Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Rutledge to the sea-battered village of Walmer on the coast of Essex, where amongst the salt flats and a military airfield lies Benton Abbey, a grand manor with a storied past. The lady of the house may prove his most bewildering witness yet. She claims she saw a violent murder—but there is no body, no blood. She also insists she recognized the killer: Captain Nelson. Only it could not have been Nelson because he died during the war. Everyone in the village believes that Lady Benton’s losses have turned her mind—she is, after all, a grieving widow and mother—but the woman Rutledge interviews is rational and self-possessed. And then there is Captain Nelson: what really happened to him in the war? The more Rutledge delves into this baffling case, the more suspicious tragedies he uncovers. The Abbey and the airfield hold their secrets tightly. Until Rutledge arrives, and a new trail of death follows…

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. Get ready, get ready, strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain now here's your host chris voss hi folks this is voss here from the chris voss show.com the chris voss show.com hey we're coming here in our great podcast we certainly appreciate you guys tuning in. Thanks for being here. We are going to be interviewing another great author on the show, as always. Some really cool people that are on the show.

We want you to go, though, to YouTube.com, 4ChessChrisFoss. Hit that bell notification. Go to all of our groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google, or I'm sorry, Goodreads.com, 4ChessChrisFoss. You can see everything I'm reading and reviewing over there as well. Today, we have an amazing author on the show. I would say prolific. In fact, he has a number of books. I'm going to let him tell us about it. But he's written the new book, A Game of Fear, a novel, which is 24 in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series. Charles Todd

is on the show with us today. He's going to be talking about his new amazing book. And this book just barely came out February 1st, 2022. He is part of the mother and son writing team who live on the East Coast of the United States. They are the New York bestselling Times authors of the Inspector Ian Rutledge series and Best Crawford series. A Game of Fear. And an Iris hostage. They have published 39 titles, including two standalone novels, an anthology of short stories, and over 20 short stories appearing in mystery magazines

and anthologies worldwide. Their works have received the Mary Higgins Clark, Agatha, and Barry Awards, along with nominations from the Anthony Edgar and Dagger Awards. Welcome to the show, Charles. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me. It's great to have you as well. Congratulations on the new book. We've got a copy right here.

And give us your plug so people can find you on the interwebs. This is hard to remember. It's charlestodd.com. There you go, charlestodd.com. That makes it really easy, actually. Absolutely. And actually, we're on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. So a lot of great reviews in the book.

In fact, Stephen King's on here. That's always a good one to take a nap. Tell us what motivated you to want to write this version. Well, we got started writing Murder Mysteries 25 years ago. Frankly, we did it as a lark. We both enjoyed, my mother and I both enjoyed Great Britain and Murder Mysteries in particular. And we decided to see if we could put our money where our mouth was and actually write one ourselves. And we sent off a test of wills back in the mid-90s. It actually was released in 96.

And we didn't have an agent, just sent it to an editor that we knew that took unagented manuscripts. And we didn't hear anything for three months. We were about to give up and go back to whatever it was we were doing. And all of a sudden out of the blue, she called up and asked if it was still for sale. And at that point in time, we'd have sold it for a penny, but we said, absolutely. And Tess Wills came out and did extremely well and garnered a lot of reviews. At that time, nobody was writing about World War I and World War I, which is the time period that we deal with. And nobody was dealing with what we now call PTSD. It wasn't until after 9-11 and everything that it really came to the fore as

a topic for conversation that it is now. And so Ian Rutledge is a Scotland Yard inspector who started out with a young promising career and then in 1914 went off and served in the trenches of World War I as an officer in the Army. And Tessa Wells, the first book was his first case returning back to Scotland Yard. A very different person than he was when he set out in 1914. And we followed his adventures all over England, which gives us a really good excuse to travel to England on research and write it off on our taxes. I love the thinking there. Now, there's 24 in this series.

Does that count correct? That's correct. Okay. And so in your books, are there something where somebody who isn't familiar with the series can jump right in at series 24 and be able to understand what's going on? Absolutely. We write each book as a complete standalone work. You will pick up on some of the nuances of character development with certain core characters that remain throughout the series, but we felt that the London Scotland Yard Inspector had been done so well by so many

people. We wanted to delve into a Scotland Yard Inspector who was sent out all over the country. When a case comes up in a certain area and the chief constable calls in the yard, someone like Ian Rutledge would be sent out to deal with the investigation because in a lot of these, especially the rural areas, murder wasn't a commonplace event like it was in London or various large cities of the time. So in each book, we go to a different part of England and A Game of Fear is a perfect example. It's set in Essex on the coast of England, northeast of London. And so what sort of person is he? What type of personality and what's his character like? Ian Rutledge is a very private man for two very basic reasons.

First of all, it's his natural British instinct. But it's also because Rutledge is suffering from what was then called shell shock. And in that time period, shell shock was considered something to be ashamed of. If you were coming back from the trenches and had any kind of mental breakdown, it was considered a failing, a weakness, not being able to exemplify the British fighting spirit. And not only did it become something that would ruin his career, but also would ruin his name in society and that of his family as well. So Rutledge has to internalize the terrible experiences he'd been through during World War I. And so by being able to go out of London on his various assignments, he has the opportunity to deal with his shell shock issues in his own private way

he's also the kind of person who is very dogged, very persistent Rutledge is not one of these people that suddenly has some mystic quality or supernatural genius or anything. Rutledge is college educated. And that was a problem for him in the yard because the yard was going more towards college educated professionals.

And naturally the hierarchy at Scotland Yard had come up by their bootstraps from the streets, so to speak. And he was resented by people who were looking for any excuse to get rid of Rutledge. But because of his dogged determination and persistence, he's able to delve deep into the understanding not only of the place the topography the culture of the place but also his unique understanding of people and how they interact that enables him to have a skill set that works well for solving mysteries. Oh, wow. So what sort of trouble or things is he investigating in this book?

You titled it A Game of Fear. Was there a reason you chose that title? Yes, actually. We wait until we're finished with the book to give it its final title, which drives our publisher crazy. But we try to pick titles that uniquely represent the story that we're telling. And in the game of fear, Rutledge is sent out by Scotland Yard to meet with a woman by the name of Lady Benton, who is the owner of a country estate called Benton Abbey. Now, Lady Benton one evening was looking out the windows of her home.

It was dark in the room, and she clearly saw a man commit a murder right about 100 feet from where she was standing right there on the lawn. Oh, wow. And not only that, but she recognizes the face of the killer. Ah. But when she goes to report it to the local constable, there's a couple of problems. First of all, there's no body. Second of all, they come out and investigate the scene. There's no flattened grass, signs of a struggle, any mud, blood spatters.

There's no evidence at all that anything has taken place and the man that she claims is the murderer captain nelson died during world war one oh wow the book is set in june of 1921 and Captain Nelson's been dead for several years, so there's no way he could have been standing in her yard killing somebody. Now, normally that would be the kind of place where an older woman who's lost her husband, lost her son in the war, would be written

off and ignored, but because Benton Abbey was adjacent to a place where during the war there had been an air base for coastal protection, et cetera, Lady Benton was well known in social circles and military circles as being a wonderful hostess to the men serving at the air base, opening up her property to give them places to come and rest and relax and get their minds away from the struggle that they were facing. And so even though they might think that she's kind of gone around the bend, so to speak,

when word gets to the chief constable for the area that Lady Benton is bound and determined that she saw a murder, his best bet was time to call the yard. And when it comes to a case like this naturally rutledge's bosses are more than happy to send him on a wild ghost chase into the back and beyond of coastal essex and uh have him hopefully fail in the process and like you mentioned earlier they're trying to get rid of him right oh absolutely so they're like send get rid of him, right? Oh, absolutely. So they're like send him on a wild ghost chase and then you know, maybe he'll die in a

swamp or something. One of the fortunate things we were smart about when we started this series was the books are set very closely together. So even though this is the 24th in the series, we've only gone from May of 1919 to June of 1921 in the space of 24 books.

Otherwise, Rutledge would be 85 and done with his life. That wouldn't work. Yeah, you definitely want to preserve that at their timeline. So, Rutledge is called in, and cognizant of the world around her, and very adamant about what she's seen. And so Rutledge begins his investigation. Essex, by that time, had become sort of a backwater. Many people may be familiar with Malden sea salt flakes. The pools, the tidal pools

created by the ocean or the channel had been wonderful pools where water would, seawater would remain and then dry in the sun. And that very thick brine would be drawn up by pumps and turned into salt. And up until the turn of the century, Essex and Malden in particular were known throughout the country and around the world for their very fine sea salt flakes. Yeah. In fact, we have some here at the house. I love them.

It's very excellent stuff. That's from Essex in England. That's awesome, man. I have the smoked and I have the normal. on steaks oh my god It is And they're famous I mean I think Chef Hugh's Maldon Salt's everywhere

So it goes on quite the adventure I guess and goes to things Sadly you can't tell us what happens at the end So we'll have to tease that Absolutely What are some other aspects we can tease out to Readers on the book? Well, like everything else, one murder leads to another, and things get very difficult very quickly.

They call it Fridays around my house. Yeah, absolutely. Investigation continues and Rutledge begins to learn more about not only Lady Benton and Benton Abbey, but the town of Chilmer and the history of the airbase and the men that served there and what became of them. Leads him down a variety of different paths on his way to ultimately, we hope, solve the crime. Yeah. That's always good, solve the crime. Pretty cool. Anything else you want to tease about the book before we go?

There's a couple for long-term fans and for new fans. There's some good things that take place in this book that will definitely reward long-time Rutledge fans as well as new fans. Kind of some Easter eggs? Kind of Easter eggs, yeah. Yeah, yeah. They're little things that open up new opportunities and potential for Rutledge's future,

because when you come to the end of one book, you have to tease into the next one. Yeah, it does. Do you see further series coming coming out on this or are you working on your other series well a game of fears manuscript was turned into harper collins in february of 2021 and actually takes a year to go through the process to actually put the book on the shelf you know how that is yeah i know. And then in July of last year, we turned in the new manuscript for the 13th in the Best Crawford series, which I'm working with our editor at HarperCollins Morrow on getting it ready for production. And we're hoping it will be out this year.

And I'm in the process right now of starting into the manuscript for the 25th in the Rutledge series. Wow. The main thing is my mother and I really, over the years, had created a very strong relationship. Not only the mother-son relationship, but the professional relationship, which is something I will be grateful for the rest of my life. And so it's rather unique here, six months later, to be starting a new manuscript when I don't have that feedback and symbiosis of working with a co-author. The most important thing to me right now is to make sure that we that i maintain the standards that i think we've set over these past 25 years anytime you try to do something like this you know you're going to hear from critics

well it's not as good as yeah but it's very important to me that I know that the quality is there and that the standards have been maintained. Otherwise, if it doesn't meet that level, then I don't want it published. Yeah. And I noticed you had a beautiful dedication in front of

A Game of Fear to your mom, which is really nice. So, my condolences on that. You guys have a beautiful history. You've written a lot of books together and mom, which is really nice. So my condolences on that. And you guys have a beautiful history. You've written a lot of books together and created quite the fan base. I'm sure that they'll understand the legacy and the connection. The outpouring of support from friends, family, and readers has been immeasurable kindness to myself and my family.

And the fans are definitely saying, right on. Don't stop now, for goodness sakes. So I'm putting everything I can into the next in the Rutledge series so that Rutledge goes on and has more adventures to look forward to. Yeah. I'm not sure you guys wrote for so long together that you guys, a lot of it may be just like writing a micro, come back to you hopefully. So I'm sure it will.

It is. When we first started out, there was no co-authors for dummies books out there. So we went back and forth and tried all kinds of different things. And it took us quite a while to develop a system that worked for us. The most important thing for us was everybody will say to us, well, does Caroline write chapter one and Charles writes chapter two or does Charles write these parts? We found out that doesn't work. How can I write chapter two if I don't know what you're writing in chapter one? That's very true. How can I fill in the dialogue for this person if I don't

understand what's going on with the dialogue with that person? Ultimately, we realized we had to work it and as movie buffs going way back we work it scene by scene i'll write the scene she would write the scene we email it back and forth we never wrote in the same room together because we always wound up going off on tangents and not getting any work, but we would spin the back and forth until we finally felt, okay, we'll put this in the master manuscript. Now what's next? And then we start working on that and doing it scene by scene and realizing that we both have to know as much as the other does. And then combine that with our own life experiences, the experiences we had as a mother and son.

And also with me going off to college, starting a career, working for a company, having all those experiences. It wasn't until I was 30 plus years old before we, 35, 36, when we started the series. I don't know, whatever 25 minus my current age is. We won't tell. It's about 35? So those combined together, Caroline and I

believe very strongly in traveling to England. In fact, I'm headed for England in June. Finally, after COVID, I get to go back. But it's not until you're actually there, go to these places, you meet the people, you get some understanding of the lay of the land and the people and the character of the place. I have, Caroline and I both always felt that in addition to your regular cast of characters, your setting is a character in and of itself. Definitely.

And so I'm looking forward to heading back over there and finding some more research material. Yeah. I mean, probably being in the atmosphere and the environment really helped spark your imagination and the details of what you want to create, not only with the characters, but also the environment that's there in the book. That's what we try to put into the book

is one of our favorite fan letters is, I felt like I was there. And that's what's so critically important. Otherwise, I say to people, some people will say to me, oh, I like Tudor England. I've always thought about writing an Elizabethan book. Okay, that's fine, but what about the story makes it Elizabethan? If the story could take place at any time in any city, why set it in London during Elizabeth's time just because

that's something you like. It has to come together in order to gel. And we did a tremendous, I'm not going to tell you how many books I own, and I'm not going to tell you how many books Caroline owned, but we always, every time we'd

come across a new resource, we'd get two copies. Oh, really? Absolutely. That way she had a copy and I had a copy and we read everything together. There you go. That is awesome, man. Well, it's a beautiful history you guys have put together and I'm sure your fans and people who love your books will continue and hopefully we'll open some eyes to some new fans that we'll take and check out the book as well. That's always our hope and fans that we would never some of the veterans that have come up and spoken to us at different events very privately very quietly but you get

that real sense that what you've written on the page has actually touched somebody. And I think that is the most rewarding aspect for any writer. There you go. Well, Charles, it's been wonderful to have you on the show. Give us your plug so people can find you on the interwebs and get to know you better and work your book. charlestodd.com. There you go. There you go.

Very simple and easy. I love it. Absolutely. There you go. I use work in Very simple and easy. I love it. Absolutely. There you go. I use work in branding. Can you tell? Yeah. Just keep it simple.

It was a kiss technique. Keep it simple. Absolutely. Yeah. So thank you very much for being on the show. We're certainly honored to have you. Thank you for having me. Great discussion.

Guys, go pick up the book, Charles Todd, A Game of Fear. You can find it wherever fine books are sold. That's an important place to be. Don't go in those alleyways. It just came out February 1, 2022, so there's times that you should be able to read it before the rest of your book club gets it. You can say you read it first. Thanks for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, 4Chess, Chris Foss, see everything we're reading and reviewing over there.

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Anyway, guys, thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other. Stay safe, and we'll see you guys next time. So we're excited to announce my new book is coming out. It's called Beacons of Leadership, Inspiring Lessons of Success in Business and Innovation. It's going to be coming out on October 5th, 2021. And I'm really excited for you to get a chance to read this book. It's filled with a multitude of my insightful stories, lessons, my life, and experiences in leadership and character. I give you some of the secrets from my CEO entrepreneurial toolbox that I use to scale

my business success, innovate, and build a multitude of companies. I've been a CEO for, what is it, like 33, 35 years now. We talk about leadership, the importance of leadership, how to become a great leader, and how anyone can become a great leader as well. Or order the book wherever fine books are sold.