Charles Todd: A Christmas Witness
This novella is set in Dec. 1921 after the events of the forthcoming novel A Day of Judgement, which is set in July 1921.
A few days before Christmas, Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to Kent to the home of Lord Edward Braxton, a retired Army Colonel who has survived an attempted murder. As the newest Chief, and one who has no children to spend Christmas with, Rutledge takes the case.
The Colonel, who prefers his Army title to ancestral rank, is cantankerous, uncooperative, and convinced that someone will kill him before he sees another Christmas. The problem is, he can’t describe his attacker in detail or think of a specific person who means him harm. Since he spent the war as part of the staff for Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, referred to as “Butcher Haig” by Hamish because his orders sent many good soldiers to unnecessary deaths, any number of people could want Braxton dead: soldiers who survived as well as loved ones of soldiers who died.
