Charles Todd is a pen name used by the American authors Caroline Todd and Charles Todd, who were mother and son. Caroline Todd was the pen name for Carolyn Watjen and Charles Todd is the pen name for her son David Watjen. Caroline Todd died on August 28, 2021, at age 86 from complications of a lung infection. Charles Todd lives in North Carolina. The authors are best known for a series of novels, set in post World War I England. The books deal with the cases of Inspector Ian Rutledge, a veteran of the European campaigns who is attempting to pick up the pieces of his Scotland Yard career. However, he must keep his greatest burden a secret: suffering from shell shock, he lives with the constant, cynical, taunting voice of Hamish MacLeod, a young Scots soldier he was forced to execute on the battlefield for refusing an order and moments before a shell from their own artillery buried Rutledge's regiment alive. Only Rutledge survived because of a small air pocket between his face and Hamish MacLeod's body.They are also the authors of a series about Bess Crawford, a nurse serving in France during World War I.
