Late on a spring night in 1920, five boys cross the Yorkshire dales to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, intent on raising the Devil. Instead, they stumble over the Devil himself, sitting there watching them. Terrified, they run for their lives, leaving behind a book on alchemy stolen from their schoolmaster. The next morning, a body is discovered in the cloisters of the abbey--a man swathed in a hooded cloak and wearing a gas mask. Scotland Yard dispatches Inspector Rutledge to find out who the man was and why he died in such mysterious circumstances. But the villagers clearly have something to hide. And what does the huge chalk sculpture of a pale horse of the Apocalypse have to do with the crime?
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Synopsis
Late on a spring night in 1920, five boys cross the Yorkshire dales to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, intent on raising the Devil. Instead, they stumble over the Devil himself, sitting there watching them. Terrified, they run for their lives, leaving behind a book on alchemy stolen from their schoolmaster. The next morning, a body is discovered in the cloisters of the abbey--a man swathed in a hooded cloak and wearing a gas mask. Scotland Yard dispatches Inspector Rutledge to find out who the man was and why he died in such mysterious circumstances. But the villagers clearly have something to hide. And what does the huge chalk sculpture of a pale horse of the Apocalypse have to do with the crime?
Reviews
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Simon Prebble, the voice of Charles Todd's mysteries, creates another winner with this moody tale of soured love in the Yorkshire dales. The year is 1920. Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is called in to investigate a dead body found in a Yorkshire abbey. A second case of a vanished government scientist may or may not be linked. Rutledge wants the truth, but others are more interested in silence. As always, Rutledge is accompanied by his Scottish "ghost," Hamish. Prebble reads atmospherically without overdramatizing the action, and the wide range of characters is well drawn--Hamish's brogue; a simple man's slow precision; the broad, tight voice of a hostile Yorkshire policeman. This is literate, satisfying fun. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
