A Christmas Witness (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries Book 25)

Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard investigates a possible attempted murder in this seasonal mystery novella. In December 1921, newly promoted Chief Inspector Rutledge is assigned by Chief Superintendent Markum to travel to a Kentish estate where a lord is recovering from a suspected attack on his life. The man, confined to bed with a concussion, believes someone is attempting to kill him after being struck by the hoof of a running horse whose rider did not stop to help him. Rutledge, burdened by his own wartime trauma and conflicted about assisting a man who, as a colonel, had overseen soldiers' suffering from a distance, begins an uncomfortable investigation. As Christmas approaches, Rutledge grows increasingly certain that the circumstances surrounding the incident are not what they initially appear to be.