For those of you who have met Charles Todd (Caroline and Charles, the mother and son writing team) this was posted on their facebook page a few day ago: We want to mark the sad loss of our husband and father, John. It was sudden, after a very brief illness, and he died peacefully surrounded by family and friends. It’s a terrible blow at any time, but particularly here just before the next Rutledge comes out. John was a PhD Chemical Engineer, and that made him the perfect proof reader. We could always tell when we had him hooked—he’d miss two or three typos. He enjoyed reading the chapters as they were finished and printed out for him, because it was a story that still had no ending, and often he’d worry that we couldn’t pull all the pieces together, and then when he finished the last page, he was smile at us and say, “I don’t know how you managed this one, but you got it right.” He was our long-shot photographer for all our research in England until only a few years ago, while we were taking the close ups and details. The overview was how we tied all the photos together. And he was the most amazing driver, taking the English roads—even Italian roads—in his stride. A remarkable navigator—Caroline was the one who got us lost, but never John. And he was a traveller, having been to ninety-six countries around the world, including spending a remarkable day with mountain gorillas in the Virunga Mountains where Diana Fossey had worked with them. He was always pleased when a trip we’d done together contributed a character or a clue or a murder weapon to one of the books. A great gardener, with a love of the outdoors, a love of sports and a love of history and of animals. He adored all our eccentric family cats and his daughter’s wonderful dogs. Being married to him, being raised by him, was fun because of his dry, New England sense of humor. He was a great reader, and went to a great many Mystery Conventions, enjoying talking with other writers, especially his favorite, Tony Hillerman, whom he met at Mid-Atlantic Mystery and at Malice Domestic. He was pleased no end when we shared Tony’s editor. We had, as writers, ARRIVED. He had great faith, loved music and reading reviews, and he loved ice cream and desserts with a passion. He was in service during the Korean War, and a special event in his background helped us tremendously with A PALE HORSE. He could remember roads when we needed to retrieve memories of a particular place, and then point them out on a map. And above all, when we were writing A TEST OF WILLS and stopped mid-book because we didn’t know if we as writers could carry out the enormous task we’d set ourselves, he told us in no uncertain terms to finish it, because he said, it was what I, his wife had always wanted to do, and I his son had discovered I wanted to do, and that together we had the skill to bring Rutledge and Hamish to the life—and eventually to the world. He was so right, and so pleased that the book was so honored. He was cherished and loved in life and will be deeply missed, but because he shared in making Charles Todd work, we will always have him with us. And we will travel to promote HUNTING SHADOWS, because he would have wanted us to go, as he always did. Caroline and Charles, and his other much loved child, Linda.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 04:02:33 +0000
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