Charles Todd is a pseudonym used by the mother-and-son writing duo of American authors Caroline and Charles Todd. Their main series features Inspector Ian Rutledge, an English detective working in Scotland Yard during post-WWI England. Their other characters include Francesca Hatton and Bess Crawford. Sadly, Caroline passed away in 2021, but her legacy lives on in the characters her son Charles continues to write for.

Charles Todd published his first novel in 1996, titled A Test of Wills. Below is a list of Charles Todd’s books in order of when they were originally released:

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Publication Order of Inspector Ian Rutledge Books

A Test of Wills (1994)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Wings of Fire (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Search the Dark (1999)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Legacy of the Dead (2000)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Watchers of Time (2001)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Fearsome Doubt (2002)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Cold Treachery (2005)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Long Shadow (2006)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A False Mirror (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Pale Horse (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Matter of Justice (2008)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Red Door (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Kidnapping (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Lonely Death (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Confession (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Proof of Guilt (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Cold Comfort (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Hunting Shadows (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Fine Summer's Day (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
No Shred of Evidence (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Racing the Devil (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Piper (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Gatekeeper (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Black Ascot (2019)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Divided Loyalty (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Fatal Lie (2021)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Game of Fear (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Bess Crawford Books

A Duty to the Dead (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
An Impartial Witness (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Bitter Truth (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
An Unmarked Grave (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Question of Honor (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
An Unwilling Accomplice (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Maharani's Pearls (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Pattern of Lies (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Shattered Tree (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Casualty of War (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Forgotten Place (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Cruel Deception (2019)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Hanging at Dawn (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
An Irish Hostage (2021)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Cliff's Edge (2023)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

The Murder Stone (2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

The Walnut Tree (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Mysterious Profiles Books

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike (By: Robert Crais) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Jack Taylor (By: Ken Bruen) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Jack Reacher (By: Lee Child) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Charlie Parker (By: John Connolly) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Hieronymus Bosch (By: Michael Connelly) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Lincoln Rhyme (By: Jeffery Deaver) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Alex Delaware (By: Jonathan Kellerman) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Tess Monaghan (By: Laura Lippman) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Charlie Resnick (By: John Harvey) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus (By: Faye Kellerman) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Inspector Morse (By: Colin Dexter) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Dismas Hardy (By: John Lescroart) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Bob Lee Swagger (By: Stephen Hunter) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Aloysius X. L. Pendergast (By: Douglas Preston) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Lou Boldt (By: Ridley Pearson) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Spenser (By: Robert B. Parker) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Charlotte and Thomas Pitt (By: Anne Perry) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
John Rebus (By: Ian Rankin) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Mallory (By: Carol O'Connell) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Jane Whitefield (By: Thomas Perry) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Ian Rutledge: A Mysterious Profile (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Amos Walker (By: Loren D. Estleman) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Precious Ramotswe (By: Alexander McCall Smith) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Maisie Dobbs (By: Jacqueline Winspear) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Lincoln Lawyer (By: Michael Connelly) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Ben Kincaid (By: William Bernhardt) (2023)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Repairman Jack (By: F. Paul Wilson) (2023)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Bibliomysteries Books

The Book of Virtue (By: Ken Bruen) (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Pronghorns of the Third Reich (By: C.J. Box) (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book Thing (By: Laura Lippman) (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book Case (By: Nelson DeMille) (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
An Acceptable Sacrifice (By: Jeffery Deaver) (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Death Leaves a Bookmark (By: William Link) (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Final Testament (By: Peter Blauner) (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Rides a Stranger (By: David Bell) (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Long Sonata of the Dead (By: Andrew Taylor) (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book of Ghosts (By: Reed Farrel Coleman) (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Compendium of Srem (By: F. Paul Wilson) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
What's in a Name? (By: Thomas H. Cook) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Remaindered (By: Peter Lovesey) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Sequel (By: R.L. Stine) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Gospel of Sheba (By: Lyndsay Faye) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Book Club (By: Loren D. Estleman) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Nature of My Inheritance (By: Bradford Morrow) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
It's in the Book (By: Mickey Spillane) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Scroll (By: Anne Perry) (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book of the Lion (By: Thomas Perry) (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Little Men (By: Megan Abbott) (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Condor in the Stacks (By: James Grady) (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Mystery, Inc. (By: Joyce Carol Oates) (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Every Seven Years (By: Denise Mina) (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
From the Queen (By: Carolyn Hart) (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
From the Queen (By: Carolyn Hart) (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Travelling Companion (By: Ian Rankin) (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Citadel (By: Stephen Hunter) (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Reconciliation Day (By: Christopher Fowler) (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Dead Dames Don't Sing (By: John Harvey) (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Haze (By: James W. Hall) (2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Hoodoo Harry (By: Joe R. Lansdale) (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Pretty Little Box (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Seven Years (By: Peter Robinson) (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Hemingway Valise (By: Robert Olen Butler) (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Last Honest Horse Thief (By: Michael Koryta) (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository (By: John Connolly) (2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Girl Who Did Say No (By: David Handler) (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Traitor (By: Martin Edwards) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Dark Door (By: Lisa Unger) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Honeymoon Trap (By: Peter Swanson) (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Chronological Order of Bibliomysteries Books

The Book of Virtue (By: Ken Bruen)(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Scroll (By: Anne Perry)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Pronghorns of the Third Reich (By: C.J. Box)(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
An Acceptable Sacrifice (By: Jeffery Deaver)(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Death Leaves a Bookmark (By: William Link)(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Seven Years (By: Peter Robinson)(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book Thing (By: Laura Lippman)(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book of Ghosts (By: Reed Farrel Coleman)(2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Book Club (By: Loren D. Estleman)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Long Sonata of the Dead (By: Andrew Taylor)(2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Final Testament (By: Peter Blauner)(2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Rides a Stranger (By: David Bell)(2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
What's in a Name? (By: Thomas H. Cook)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
It's in the Book (By: Mickey Spillane)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Nature of My Inheritance (By: Bradford Morrow)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Remaindered (By: Peter Lovesey)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Compendium of Srem (By: F. Paul Wilson)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Gospel of Sheba (By: Lyndsay Faye)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Sequel (By: R.L. Stine)(2014)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book of the Lion (By: Thomas Perry)(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Little Men (By: Megan Abbott)(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
From the Queen (By: Carolyn Hart)(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Every Seven Years (By: Denise Mina)(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Citadel (By: Stephen Hunter)(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Condor in the Stacks (By: James Grady)(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Mystery, Inc. (By: Joyce Carol Oates)(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Travelling Companion (By: Ian Rankin)(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Haze (By: James W. Hall)(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Dead Dames Don't Sing (By: John Harvey)(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Reconciliation Day (By: Christopher Fowler)(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Hoodoo Harry (By: Joe R. Lansdale)(2017)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Pretty Little Box(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository (By: John Connolly)(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Hemingway Valise (By: Robert Olen Butler)(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Last Honest Horse Thief (By: Michael Koryta)(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Book Case (By: Nelson DeMille)(2012)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
From the Queen (By: Carolyn Hart)(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Girl Who Did Say No (By: David Handler)(2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Traitor (By: Martin Edwards)(2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Dark Door (By: Lisa Unger)(2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Honeymoon Trap (By: Peter Swanson)(2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Anthologies

Death Do Us Part(2006)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Study in Sherlock(2011)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Deadly Pleasures(2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Crimespree Magazine #58(2015)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Death Knell V(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Malice Domestic 11(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Silent Night, Deadly Night(2016)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Murder, They Wrote: Five Bibliomysteries by Edgar Award-Winning Authors(2018)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Odd Partners(2019)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Private Investigations: Mystery Writers on the Secrets, Riddles, and Wonders in Their Lives(2020)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Black Cat Weekly #50(2022)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

If You Like Charles Todd Books, You’ll Love…

Charles Todd Synopses: In A Test of Wills by Charles Todd (book 1 of the Inspector Ian Rutledge series), while investigating the apparent murder of a well-known army colonel by a decorated war hero with ties to the Royal Family, the shell-shocked Rutledge struggles to maintain his fragile sanity.

In Wings of Fire by Charles Todd (book 2 of the Ian Rutledge series), Inspector Ian Rutledge is assigned to investigate the sudden deaths of three members of the same prominent Cornwall family. However, the World War I veteran quickly realizes that this case is not typical. Including the identity of one of the dead, O.A. Manning, a reclusive spinster whose war poetry helped Rutledge keep his sanity in the French trenches. Rutledge is driven to discover the haunting truths of murder and madness rooted in a family crypt, guided by the voice of Hamish, the Scot he unwillingly executed on the battlefield.

Search the Dark by Charles Todd is the third book in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series. Inspector Rutledge is brought to the charming Dorset town of Singleton Magna by a missing woman and two children, where the truth is buried with the dead. The primary suspect is a tortured veteran whose family was killed in an enemy bombing. Rutledge continues to look for the real killer despite his doubts. His search also leads him into the private lives of Londoners and Dorsetians whose privileged positions and private passions give them every reason to stop him when another body is discovered in the lush Dorset earth. A murderer is being guarded by someone. Additionally, two children are in the dark somewhere out there…

Legacy of the Dead is the fourth book in Charles Todd’s Inspector Ian Rutledge series. Although Eleanor Gray’s weathered remains were discovered on a Scottish mountainside, Eleanor’s mother, Lady Maude Gray, must be handled with care. This isn’t the only ground that Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge needs to be careful of, as the case will soon take him to Scotland, where a lot of Rutledge’s ghosts are afraid to go. However, the greatest risk will come from an unanticipated encounter.

Rutledge will discover in Scotland that the young mother who is accused of killing Eleanor Gray is a woman he owes a great debt. In addition, the harrowing journey he takes to discover the truth will take him back through the blazes of his past and into secrets that continue to hold the power to kill.

Watchers of Time by Charles Todd is book 5 in the Inspector Rutledge series. After administering a dying man’s last rites, a priest is brutally killed in a swampy Norfolk backwater. It appears to be a straightforward case for Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge, an ex-officer still recovering from war trauma. However, the Inspector discovers secrets that the local authorities would rather not be investigated. In order to piece together a chain of events that extends from the gloomy marshes to one of the greatest sea disasters in history—the Titanic’s sinking—Rutledge removes layers of deception. Who is the enigmatic individual who may have boarded that ship and who is the secretive individual who was able to survive it? Those inquiries are best answered by Rutledge alone. and stop a killer who won’t stop until they kill you again.

Order of Books » Authors » Order of Charles Todd Books

9 Responses to “Order of Charles Todd Books”

  1. Rodney Coriarty: 2 years ago

    All Charles Todd books are a wonderful read and especially to me as I was stationed in England for three years. It is neat to read about some of the places I visited during my time in England. I have read thirty-seven books by the mother and son, Charles Todd, and loved them all.

    Reply

  2. Mary Flickinger: 5 years ago

    Also, I just wanted to mention, that Peter Robinson, Chief Inspector DCI Banks series is a pretty good read, set in England also.

    Reply

  3. Mary Flickinger: 5 years ago

    I’ve really enjoyed reading the Ian Rutledge series. There’s just something about the good writing and visuals that just carry you along, the time that the stories are set in after the first world war, the suffering of the soldiers both on the battlefield and when they returned home, shell shocked only to receive public scorn and embarrassment, and the weaving of all this into the story of a person trying to get their life in order again. As much as I enjoy the books, I do agree with one of the comments that a couple of the books ended so abruptly, that the reader was left hanging. I wrote to the writers, asking them to understand that as readers, we form attachments to the characters in the book, when the story ends so abruptly, even though we might be able to figure out what happened, it leaves the reader hanging and doesn’t bring the closure on importance points of the lives of these characters. I also caught the fact that it should be milk and not cream!

    Reply

  4. Maureen Diwell Cate: 6 years ago

    I am totally hooked on Ian Rutledge as I have listened to to the first four books on Audible. I have been flummoxed, however, by two anachronisms. No-one in 1919 England would have used the word ‘gotten’ (nor in 2018 hopefully). Nor would any lady have asked a guest whether they took ‘cream’ in their tea. Milk is our additive. Now I see the authors are American and all is explained. Apart from those two things I would never have guessed.

    Reply

  5. debra puccio: 6 years ago

    Love Charles Todd’s new book, A Casualty of War! Going through a difficult time and this book helped me to escape for a while.I’m hoping that Bess Crawford and Simon Brandon get together soon.I think he’s always loved her! Great writing without obscenity.

    Reply

  6. pippin2: 7 years ago

    To Cody Cat…If Gale read carefully, Inspector Rutledge spelled the whole story out in his notes for Scotland Yard.
    Great stories.

    Reply

  7. Terry Toner: 7 years ago

    Charles Todd is my top read – it use to be Ruth Rendell – then I met her – shame – though the books were great – with Charles Todd I ensure I have the hardbacks on order for dispatch on Pub date – shame CT hasn’t a big impact on the New Zealand market :-((( – am eagerly awaiting the new book this month – WOW !!!!

    Reply

  8. CodyCat: 9 years ago

    Gale, I don’t think it’s very kind to tell others the ending of novels, even if you’re not sure of the outcome. Bad form, particularly among avid readers.

    Reply

  9. Gale: 9 years ago

    I just completed “Legacy of the Dead” and was a little surprised at the ending that left the reader hanging with questions of the health of inspector Rutledge, what happened to Fiona, young Ian and his future with Ian’s Godfather. None of the other books I have read have ended like this. I was hoping that the next book would possibly start out with Rutledge’s recovery and ending the story that so abruptly ended in Legacy. I got “Watchers of Time” from the local library and discovered that I already read this book with no completion of Legacy Help!!

    Reply

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