A Cold Treachery (Inspector Ian Rutledge 7 ) by Charles Todd

" In Charles Todd's "A Cold Treachery," Inspector Ian Rutledge of London's Scotland Yard is dispatched to the cold and snowy north country of England, where sheep outnumber people and the rocks on the mountain slopes outnumber the sheep. Sheep farming is the principal occupation around the small Village of Urskdale, which is situated next to a lake with the equally hard-sounding name of Urskwater. The houses, barns, and sheep pens of the outlying farms are scattered on the steep rocky slopes called fells. Snow makes the fells slippery and conceals treacherous crevices. The mountainous terrain, the cold, and snow permeate Todd's story. People in these parts all know their neighbors and are wary of strangers. A horrible, bloody shooting of an isolated farm family -- mother, father, little daughter, and twin babies -- in their kitchen scares everyone into distrusting everyone else and to start locking doors. Only one family member, a 10-year-old boy, is missing. Is the boy the murderer? Or had he escaped or been killed elsewhere by the madman? Search parties have begun scouring the area for the boy, who could not survive long in the bad weather. The local police know they need help. Inspector Rutledge drives from London, facing a blizzard that is making many roads impassable and will make his job more difficult. All the elements of the story are finely drawn -- plot, suspects, other characters, the weather, the sheep, the farms, the fells. Expertly written. A most satisfying read (400 pages)....."

느린 이야기 전개가 특징인 작품이지만 이 작품은 상당히 느리다. 200페이지까지 전쟁이나 배경의 묘사가 대부분을 차지하기 때문에 빠른 이야기 전개를 원하는 독자들에게는 지루한 작품이다. 물론 복선적 요소나 사건의 결말을 알았을 때 독자들을 놀라게 할 이야기가 몇몇 등장하기는 하지만 그래도 지루한 면이 있다. 작품의 후반에 들어서면서 작품의 재미를 잘 보여주고 있다. 문장이나 표현들은 전작들과 비슷하다.