Breaking News--Scotland Yard Detective Solves Mysterious Deaths at Downton

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've just finished reading Charles Todd's latest Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery, HUNTING SHADOWS. It hits the bookshelves on Jan. 27 but I was lucky enough to get an early copy. And I loved it! So I called Caroline and Charles to tell them that, and to ask them to join us here on JRW to talk about the book. Then we wandered into a discussion about the new season of Downton Abbey, and before we knew it, we were off and running as authors sometimes do when they get together. 

HUNTING SHADOWS opens with Rutledge driving through a heavy mist. He's on his way to Ely to look into two murders. Each of the victims was killed by a single rifle shot, and in the chaos the shooter gets away unseen—except for a lone witness who swears the shooter was a monster. Scotland Yard has been sent for since one victim is an Army officer and the other was standing for Parliament. On his way to Ely, in the Cambridgeshire Fen country, blinded by the mist, Rutledge nearly plunges into one of the many drainage ditches that over the centuries have turned this watery land into fertile farm country. That sent us off on a tangent, remembering Matthew dying in that awful car crash in the last season of Downton Abbey as he was on his way to tell the Earl that Lady Mary was fine and the Grantham succession had been secured by the birth of little George. 

CAROLINE: And then I mentioned to Deborah that Julian Fellowes had skipped the next six months, during which there must have been an investigation into Matthew's death, his rate

of speed, the condition of his motorcar, and of the other driver. An inquest would have been held before Matthew's death would have been declared an accident.

CHARLES: But I'd never seen a constable walking the village streets. Yes, some burly policemen came to take Bates away on a charge of murder, but they were from York. Who then investigated the accident? Since it was the Earl's heir, I can't believe that the inquiry would have been left to the local constable. Had the Chief Constable sent someone from York? Or even Scotland Yard? 

DEBS: And at this point in the conversation, I asked, what if Rutledge had made a wrong turn in the mist and found himself in Yorkshire instead? And because he was the man on the spot, London put him in charge of the investigation? What would he have thought about the Abbey as he came up the drive to the front of the house?

CAROLINE: Rutledge has always been interested in architecture. And the Abbey--actually Highclere Castle--is a very handsome place. I think he'd have been intrigued because it's actually a smaller house that was expanded by a false façade. He'd have wanted to know

more. 

CHARLES: It had to be Rutledge of course--Duncan Kincaid wasn't around in this timeframe.
  
DEBS: There would have been black mourning crepe on the door as he pulled up in front of the house.

CAROLINE: And of course Carson would have answered the door. And probably looked down his nose at Rutledge, who wasn't an Earl or Duke or even a minor Lord. But he'd have been gracious and taken Rutledge to that fabulous library where the Earl usually attends to his affairs.

DEBS: Who would have fallen under suspicion? The Earl himself, of course, because if Matthew died, it was likely he'd have management of the estate again. 

CHARLES: I don't want it to be the Earl. He's the strength of that family, the one who holds it all together, even if Julian Fellowes did let him lose most of his money in unsound investments. 

CAROLINE AND DEBS: No, we have to agree there. He's one of our favorite characters. But we will let him be under suspicion for a little while, as long as he's cleared.

DEBS: Of course Lady Mary would be under suspicion. After all, she left Matthew in Scotland to come back to Yorkshire to have her son. Perhaps she was tiring of him and his meddling in the estate. She's always been the one closest to her father. 

CAROLINE: It was a tradesman's van that ran him off the road. Could it have been the butcher in Thirsk who had longed to marry Mrs. Patmore for her cooking? He would have had just such a van.

DEBS: Rutledge will definitely have to question him. And he'll have to ask Mrs. Patmore if she thinks the butcher was capable of such a thing as a way to get back at her for dashing his hopes.

CHARLES: There's Branson, we can't forget he's the estate manager now and might prefer to work with the Earl rather than Matthew. Or maybe he's a little jealous of Matthew as the favorite son in law.

DEBS: I can't think of any reason why Cora or Lady Edith or God forbid, the Dowager, had any reason to want him dead. That leaves us with the rest of the staff.

CHARLES: Certainly not Carson, who is so fond of Lady Mary. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Nor Mrs. Hughes, who is a good Scot, sharp, but with a kind heart.

DEBS: It's too bad O'Brien was in Scotland. It could have been her--meddling again.

CAROLINE: I'd certainly like HER for a villain. Which reminds me. What about Thomas?

DEBS: Hmmm. He's always plotting, isn't he? Wait--I just saw Rutledge going into the housekeeper's parlor with Mrs. Hughes. He can't suspect her! Can he?

CAROLINE: Hurry, we can listen through the grating on the wall just outside her room. Shhh. There's a clink of china. She must have offered him tea! If it were anyone else, I'd think Poison.

"Well, now, Inspector. You've spoken to every soul in this house. Have you got even a clue as to who murdered poor Mr. Matthew? Whoever he is, he's a black-hearted villain to leave Lady Mary and the bairn without a husband or father."

"It's been a hard case to crack," Rutledge agreed. "And the reason I've come to you is that I've heard several people mention a fellow up from London. Is that a reference to Mr. Carlyle, the newspaper magnate? Was he still jealous of Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley?"

"Oh, bless you, no, Mr. Rutledge. We've seen neither hide nor hair of Mr. Carlyle for some time. No. A fellow up from London... Oh, I see where you went wrong. It's that fellow Fellowes. My goodness, I should have thought of him from the start. He's Baron Fellowes, now."

"A friend of the family?"

"You might say that. I'd call him a great meddler. He was here, staying at the Abbey when Mr. Matthew was killed. He CLAIMED he was out walking the hills, thinking. But I wouldn't have put it past him to waylay Mr. Matthew. He always had a fondness for Lady Mary, in spite of putting that Turkish gentleman in her way. Jealousy, that's what it was! And I just thought--he was here as well when Lady Sibyl, the youngest daughter of the house, died in childbirth. It was his idea to let that fancy doctor from London tell everyone that nothing could be done to save the poor lass. And she died. If our doctor had had his way, she'd be alive still, and that pretty little thing upstairs wouldn't be motherless."

Standing there by the grill we heard a chair scrape across the floor, and we scampered away before we were caught. But we heard Inspector Rutledge say, "Thank you, Mrs. Hughes, you've been a great help. I'm on my way to London now to apprehend that man. For murdering Mr. Matthew and letting Lady Sibyl die. Baron or not, he will hang for what he's done!"

"I can't think of a better fate for him," Mrs. Hughes said firmly as the door to her parlor opened and Rutledge came out.

DEBS: Thank you, Caroline and Charles, and Inspector Rutledge. I'm sure we all feel better knowing that the man responsible for the tragic deaths of Matthew and Lady Sybil will be brought to justice. 

And what about you, REDS and READERS? Do you think the mysterious Mr. Fellowes should be allowed a "Get Out of Jail Free" card?

We hope everyone is enjoying their Yorkshire puddings and looking forward to British telly, and we want to send out a special HURRAH to Dame Maggie Smith, who just won a SAG Best Actress in a Drama Award for her portrayal of the Dowager Duchess!!!

The Ups of Downton

DEBORAH CROMBIE: As host Laura Linney says in her introduction to Series 2 of Masterpiece Theater's Downton Abbey, "Who knew that it would be so much fun to watch a houseful of magnificently overdressed aristocrats living under one roof with their servants?"

But we fell in love with Downton Abbey in Series 1, on both sides of the Atlantic. Wildly. So what's so special about Downton? After all, we've been there before, haven't we, with Upstairs Downstairs? And there have been loads of period dramas over the years since.

But nothing has captured audiences' hearts and imaginations like Downton Abbey. Oh, the clothes! The hats! (I wouldn't be surprised if Downton Abbey was responible for an upturn in the millinery industry.) And the house! Highclere Castle in Berkshire stands in as Yorkshire's Downton Abbey, and it is a star in itself.

Creator Julian Fellowes speculates that part of Downton's success may have to do with the fact that Downton is NOT adapted from a novel, so we don't know what's going to happen. And he says it may satisfy a modern longing for a simpler life, without mobile phones and Twitter and, um . . . blogs.

In Series 1 there is certainly the romantic element that I've always thought of as the Edwardian Dream, those few golden years when life was good--at least if you were upper class, and male. But even for women and the middle class, things were changing, and the future seemed full of promise.

Now, however, in Series 2, that promise has been blighted by a war more horrible than anyone could have imagined, and the rigid rules of the pre-war generation will die with it. No longer will people know their place, whether it be upstairs or down.

So will we still love the Granthams and their servants as much?

Do we care if Anna and Bates will finally get their chance to be happy?

If William the footman will come back from the war?

Do we care what will happen to Lady Sybil? Lady Edith? Lord and Lady Grantham?

And, of course, the biggest hook of all--will Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley ever see sense and admit how they feel about each other?

Yes yes YES! We do care, because Downton Abbey is more than gorgeous clothes and houses and wonderful acting from a fabulous cast. Julian Fellowes is a master storyteller, and the characters are complex and very human. Just when you think you've found the villain you love to hate, like Thomas the footman or O'Brian the lady's maid or jealous Lady Edith, Fellowes shows us another side to them. (Although I must admit I have doubts about Mrs. Bates . . .)

(And I have to admit a burning desire to know how the women could eat all those meals and stay so thin! On Sunday we're going to have an Edwardian dinner menu here on Jungle Red, so come back to see what was in all those covered dishes the servants had to cart up from the kitchen. You will be astounded.)

So, readers and REDS, who are your favorite characters? Would you go back and live in Edwardian times if you could, upstairs or down? (Downton Abbey has fired great interest in the publishing world for books set in both Edwardian England and in the Twenties, and I highly recommend our Rhys's Royal Spyness series, as well as books by Charles Todd, Carola Dunn, and Jacqueline Winspear, to name just a few.)

And, readers and REDS, if you could see yourself as ONE character at Downton, who would it be?