Researching the war is sometimes a wrenching experience. We’ve known and spoken with many veterans. We also read first-hand sources and try to limit research to works written at the time, although many new books on the subject have been published. Much of that material can be considered hindsight, which means that neither Rutledge nor his contemporaries had access to it. And there’s the wall of silence of men who can’t talk about their worst experiences. And the eyes of men of who saw too many horrors. We’ve also watched the gates of memory open and the nightmare spill out. For many, it’s nighttime that’s the worst. We’ve spoken to psychiatrists and psychologists about men like Rutledge and they feel we’ve got it right. That’s seconded by men who have been there and write us from time to time. It’s important to remember that Rutledge’s condition isn’t a convenient ploy but a continuing struggle with no certainty of the outcome. Just as in real life.

By the way—2008 was the 90th anniversary of the Great War’s close, Armistice Day, which began at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Both Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings considered that war as the pivotal event of the Twentieth Century, the source of so many of the political problems we’re facing every day. A war to end all war, still touching our lives today, ninety years on.

What’s in the future for Rutledge? After The Red Door there are a good many more questions we want to pose, and as long as fans eagerly await the next book, we’ll happily oblige.

We’ve written one stand-alone novel that has given us a chance to explore the women’s side of the Great War. Rutledge doesn’t appear in The Murder Stone, and it was rather interesting to see how well we could cope with a feminine point of view after so many years of dealing with a male protagonist. The Murder Stone’s success surprised us and that in some fashion probably led to our recent decision to introduce a new series. It begins in the war years but soon moves to other areas of interest. The author of A Duty to the Dead, will be Caroline Todd, although it’s the same team at work. The schedule is a Rutledge in January as always, and a Bess Crawford in late summer. All in all, it has been a great run, and we’ve enjoyed Rutledge, Francesca, and now Bess. Over the years reviews have been outstanding, award nominations have been flattering, and the mystery community, from booksellers to fans to other authors, has been warm and supportive. Above all, we have met Ian Rutledge, who has and will be a challenge to our skills as writers.

It’s possible that books will no longer exist in a few dozen years, when electronic methods of presenting novels take over from pen and paper. You can’t curl up with a good device, the way you can with a book on a winter’s evening by the fire and, on a beach, the blowing sand can cut an electronic story short. But if imagination still exists and the old cry of Tell me a story still works, there will also be a place for those of us who create mystery for readers who can’t resist a good book. Let’s hope that in the process the friendly mystery bookstore finds a way to survive or we will all be the poorer for that.