Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Racing the Devil: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery
    Racing the Devil: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery
    Racing the Devil: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery
    Audiobook11 hours

    Racing the Devil: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

    Written by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Simon Prebble

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge finds himself caught in a twisted web of vengeance, old grievances, and secrets that lead back to World War I in the nineteenth installment of the acclaimed bestselling series.

    On the eve of the bloody Battle of the Somme, a group of English officers having a last drink before returning to the Front make a promise to each other: if they survive the battle ahead—and make it through the war—they will meet in Paris a year after the fighting ends. They will celebrate their good fortune by racing motorcars they beg, borrow, or own from Paris to Nice.

    In November 1919, the officers all meet as planned, and though their motorcars are not designed for racing, they set out for Nice. But a serious mishap mars the reunion. In the mountains just north of their destination, two vehicles are nearly run off the road, and one man is badly injured. No one knows—or will admit to knowing—which driver was at the wheel of the rogue motorcar.

    Back in England one year later, during a heavy rainstorm, a driver loses control on a twisting road and is killed in the crash. Was it an accident due to the hazardous conditions? Or premeditated murder? Is the crash connected in some way to the unfortunate events in the mountains above Nice the year before? The dead driver wasn’t in France—although the motorcar he drove was. If it was foul play, was it a case of mistaken identity? Or was the dead man the intended victim after all?

    Investigating this perplexing case, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge discovers that the truth is elusive—and that the villages on the South Downs, where the accident happened, are adept at keeping secrets, frustrating his search. Determined to remain in the shadows this faceless killer is willing to strike again to stop Rutledge from finding him. This time, the victim he chooses is a child, and it will take all of Rutledge’s skill to stop him before an innocent young life is sacrificed.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 14, 2017
    ISBN9780062659682
    Author

    Charles Todd

    Charles Todd is the New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, the Bess Crawford mysteries, and two stand-alone novels. A mother-and-son writing team, Caroline passed away in August 2021 and Charles lives in Florida.

    More audiobooks from Charles Todd

    Related to Racing the Devil

    Related audiobooks

    Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jun 14, 2022

      We stay in the apartment of a Croatian couple, husband and wife,both in love with our friend M.,a professional flautist, long-fingered and heron-legged. They’vegone to Zagreb to witness a mother’s death.For the duration, my husband and I walk their m

      2 min read

    • Article

      Crapshoot In Cassino

      Dec 29, 2020

      Crapshoot In Cassino
      16 min read

    • Article

      Royal Ascent

      Jul 28, 2022

      Royal Ascent
      5 min read

    • Article

      Nugrybauti

      Apr 24, 2019

      Nugrybauti
      8 min read

    • Article

      Sign Of The Times

      Jul 2, 2021

      Sign Of The Times
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Two Argonnes

      Feb 23, 2018

      The Two Argonnes
      24 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Than Fiction

      Apr 12, 2024

      Stranger Than Fiction
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Vintage Vespa ADVENTURE

      Jun 23, 2020

      A Vintage Vespa ADVENTURE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Up By Scooter to Australia

      Dec 21, 2021

      It’s fair to say that having already crossed the Sahara in an old London Taxi, the Marriotts were no strangers to adventure. Yet even their friends and family were concerned at their choice of a motor scooter for such a long and hazardous journey. Th

      1 min read

    • Article

      Suspended States

      Aug 7, 2022

      Suspended States
      10 min read

    • Article

      It Takes All Sorts

      Nov 26, 2020

      FOUR SOGGY BUMS, we sat in the lodge, squeezed together on a two-person sofa. Our waterproofs were soaked with rain on the outside and dripped with sweat within. By September, it was our routine. After a long day on the hill, we’d slump in front of t

      3 min read

    • Article

      Kidnapped!

      Mar 8, 2023

      Kidnapped!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letter Bocks

      Nov 18, 2021

      letters@viz.co.uk ON A RECENT visit to Denmark I saw this remarkable poster inside a bus. Needless to say, I put my foot through the bus window and was hospitalised for a considerable amount of time. However, I was perfectly fine and I didn’t even ha

      13 min read

    • Article

      All KNEEL!

      Oct 17, 2023

      All KNEEL!
      9 min read

    • Article

      Rodney Noel Jarvis

      Dec 28, 2021

      Rodney Noel Jarvis
      7 min read

    • Article

      Georges Clemenceau

      Aug 2, 2023

      Georges Clemenceau
      7 min read

    • Article

      Writing Back to Guy and Harriet Pringle

      May 11, 2018

      I met Guy and Harriet Pringle in the winter of 1987. In those days, Turkish public television had a rather ingenious arrangement with public radio; they would show the dubbed series, and the radio would play the original soundtrack. I do not remember

      9 min read

    • Article

      Readers’ Letters

      Nov 17, 2021

      SIR: I must applaud William Cook (Who was Blackie the donkey?, October issue) in maintaining the tradition of never allowing the facts to mar a good story. Don Mackay arrived at Jarandilla de la Vera first, not in the wake of Hugh Whittow of the Sun.

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Refusal To Mourn The Deaths, By Gunfire, Of Three Men In Brooklyn

      Jan 1, 2019

      And at times, didn’t the whole countrytry to break his skin?—Tim Seibles You strike your one good match to watch its bloomand jook, a swan song just before a nightwind comes to snuff it. That’s the kind of dayit’s been. Your Black & Mild, now, useles

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Racing the Devil

    4/5

    138 ratings14 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Title: Racing the Devil (Inspector Ian Rutledge #18)Author: Charles ToddPages: 345Year: 2017Publisher: William MorrowMy rating is 5 stars.This story takes place in 1920 just two years after the end of WWI. It involves seven soldiers who, the evening before the Battle of the Somme, pledge to meet in Nice, France one year after the war has ended as a race. Two men die of wounds later in the war, but five men survive to make the journey to Nice. They each return home and try to begin living again; however, they are changed men.The local rector in a small village in England is killed in a car accident. The only mystery at first appears to be why he has borrowed the car involved in the accident without asking permission from the owner of the car. The owner is out of town when the car is borrowed and upon his return he learns of the accident. The local law enforcement thinks there is something fishy with the accident and requests Scotland Yard’s help. Inspector Rutledge is sent to the scene and soon discovers that the Rector was actually murdered and not killed in the car accident. The car he borrowed just happened to be owned by one of the five men who drove to Nice, France for a reunion with four of his fellow soldiers. Soon another man is found dead, but is his death related to the Rector’s death. There is no doubt this second man has been killed in the same way as the Rector, a broken neck, but he has no link to any of the five former soldiers. Who killed him and why? Yet, another mystery for Inspector Rutledge to solve.I love it when Ian is hunting down answers to questions and clues! To me, that is when he is at his best. Although he was pretty good when confronting the culprit and putting him in his place too. I also enjoyed his encounters with the little girl, Jem, in this story. The reappearance of family friend Melinda Crawford is also a treat in each story in which she appears. I just really like how these mysteries are put together, how they are written and the flow of the writing style. For me, these are some of my favorite British mysteries. I like too how time progresses from book to book. I’m already looking forward to the next adventure Ian will encounter in book 19!
    • 5/5
      Nice New twist top the series and maneurisms of the main character
    • 4/5
      It’s 1920. Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate a suspicious accident along the Sussex coast. The local rector is killed while driving a car that does not belong to him. And it appears the car may have been knocked off the road along a particularly treacherous stretch of road. The rector was a much loved and respected man in the community and no one can figure out why he was driving a motorcar belonging to another man. Neither can Rutledge.His investigation takes Inspector Rutledge all over the Sussex coast and he deduces that the crime may be related to a reunion that took place in France a year earlier. A group of officers from the Sussex coast region, on an evening in the Somme during World War I, promised to meet in Paris a year after the war ends and go on a motorcar race to Nice. That doesn’t turn out well and the reunion is nearly ruined. The rector was driving a car belonging to one of those officers. Could the officer, not the rector, have been the intended victim? Then there are other deaths and near deaths that are seemingly unrelated to Paris-Nice race. The Inspector Rutledge mysteries are dark; often the crimes he’s investigating go back to something that happened during the War, as this one does. Although I usually pick lighter mysteries, I do like Charles Todd’s books because they’re so well plotted and written.
    • 4/5
      In June 1916, on the eve of the Battle of the Somme, seven officers agree to meet one year after the end of the war in Paris to drive to Nice. But only five survive the war to meet in the Autumn of 1919. In November 1920 a car owned by one of the Officers - Captain Standish, is involved in a fatal accident. Rutledge is sent to investigate.
      An enjoyable and well-written interesting mystery
    • 3/5
      Pretty good if formulaic Mystery with World War I and south east England as a backdrop.
    • 4/5
      One of the subplots in Racing the Devil is a tenant child whose older male relatives were killed in the war. A child is seldom featured in the Inspector Rutledge stories, but the character described makes you wish they were. Another crime filled outing in the Scotland Yard series.
    • 4/5
      Rutledge gets involved in investigating a traffic accident in which the dead driver, a local prior, is found to be driving a stolen car. Closer scrutiny suggests murder and we are off. Someone is killing a certain small group; but what else connects them as victims? officer returnees from WW1. With more victims under threat, Ian is motivated to move quickly. A little faster paced than others but another good read in this very good series. A good narration by Simon Preble also aided the pace.
    • 4/5
      Rutledge is sent to a tiny village to investigate the death of the popular rector in a suspicious auto accident. Other deaths occur, which seem to also be suspicious but any connection among them is allusive to the investigators. Rutledge continues to be haunted by his experience in World War I, but perhaps less so than in others in the series.
    • 4/5
      The latest (#19!) in the Ian Rutledge mystery series, featuring a Scotland Yard inspector still haunted by his experiences in World War I. This one's set in November 1920, and Rutledge is sent to East Sussex to investigate the death of the local rector as the driver in a car crash on a twisty cliffside road. The odd thing is, the rector didn't own a car ...I really enjoy the Rutledge characterization. He is sympathetic and easy to like, and his personal demons add richness to the overall structure rather than distracting from it. Recommended, but you should start the beginning.
    • 5/5
      Some reading friends and I were talking the other day about authors aging their detectives in "real time" or not. The Charles Todd duo (mother and son) have chosen not to age Inspector Rutledge for here we are at installment #19 and we are still in 1920 with memories of World War One still fresh enough to impact of people's lives and actions. Many of the novels delve back into the past with incidents that took place during the war, and that now have impact post-war. There is a lot of information about the war and its economic and social impact on Britain, particularly on villages like the one where RACING THE DEVIL is set.Little things like the story of Hamish McLeod are repeated from novel to novel, an attempt I think to ensure that a reader new to the series doesn't miss out on too much important background.In many ways though Ian Rutledge feels like a "modern detective". Apart from the fact that getting from one place to another is pretty slow because mostly people are on foot or horseback (motorcars are still a rarety), and telephones virtually non-existent, Rutledge has relatively modern methods.I wasn't totally clear by the end about all the links between the various plot lines. Perhaps I was just reading too fast in my attempt to get to the end of the book. It is a novel with a complex set of plot lines, and also lots of red herrings.One interesting feature of this novel is that Rutledge contacts old friend Melinda Crawford, and so gets her daughter Bess Crawford (detective in the other Charles Todd series) to do some investigating for him. I have only read one title in the Bess Crawford series and this has sparked my interest to try another.Overall, a satisfying read with just enough of a historical flavour.
    • 5/5
      Great mystery story, set in rural England, 1920. Inspector Rutledge of Scotland Year is sent to Sussex to investigate a sudden death in a motorcar crash. What seems to be a single incident spirals into a series of mysterious motorcar crashes, some in France. The victims are connected through a wartime experience and it looks as if someone is stalking them.Atmospheric setting – post WW English countryside with people trying to get their lives back after the war. Class distinction still in place, but starting to dissolve.Exciting and suspenseful conclusion.
    • 3/5
      Ian Rutledge races against the devil in a daring mystery set after WWI. Seven English soldiers vow to race from Paris to Nice a year after the war, if they survive the bloody battles. The war ends, and five men speedily engage in the adventurous journey, but soon disaster pursues the me. The mother and son team named Charles Todd beautifully lavish scenes of the English countryside and the hardships of the common folk. The small villages display the caliber of everyday life and the sense of community. Rich characters illustrate all levels of society, from the tenant farmer to the lord of the manor. Racing the Devil catches the despair and uncertainty of the men returning from war.
    • 5/5
      Title: Racing the Devil (Inspector Ian Rutledge #18)Author: Charles ToddPages: 345Year: 2017Publisher: William MorrowMy rating is 5 stars.This story takes place in 1920 just two years after the end of WWI. It involves seven soldiers who, the evening before the Battle of the Somme, pledge to meet in Nice, France one year after the war has ended as a race. Two men die of wounds later in the war, but five men survive to make the journey to Nice. They each return home and try to begin living again; however, they are changed men.The local rector in a small village in England is killed in a car accident. The only mystery at first appears to be why he has borrowed the car involved in the accident without asking permission from the owner of the car. The owner is out of town when the car is borrowed and upon his return he learns of the accident. The local law enforcement thinks there is something fishy with the accident and requests Scotland Yard’s help. Inspector Rutledge is sent to the scene and soon discovers that the Rector was actually murdered and not killed in the car accident. The car he borrowed just happened to be owned by one of the five men who drove to Nice, France for a reunion with four of his fellow soldiers. Soon another man is found dead, but is his death related to the Rector’s death. There is no doubt this second man has been killed in the same way as the Rector, a broken neck, but he has no link to any of the five former soldiers. Who killed him and why? Yet, another mystery for Inspector Rutledge to solve.I love it when Ian is hunting down answers to questions and clues! To me, that is when he is at his best. Although he was pretty good when confronting the culprit and putting him in his place too. I also enjoyed his encounters with the little girl, Jem, in this story. The reappearance of family friend Melinda Crawford is also a treat in each story in which she appears. I just really like how these mysteries are put together, how they are written and the flow of the writing style. For me, these are some of my favorite British mysteries. I like too how time progresses from book to book. I’m already looking forward to the next adventure Ian will encounter in book 19!
    • 5/5
      This has been my favorite in this series for a while. I love how Ian and Hamish are blending together more. Ian is learning to live with what he did years ago. This story was fantastic also. The things that men do in a war and have to live with afterward. I received an ebook copy of this through eidelweiss for a fair and honest opinion that have given of my own free will.