Jeri F
Jeri F asked Charles Todd:

I have been a fan of you and your beloved mother for a long time and I was so saddened to hear of her passing. I have enjoyed your great books and love Ian Rutledge best of all. Bess is good too but Ian is my favorite. With all the craziness going on in the world we need good books to take our minds off problems.. How did you and your mother get started writing best sellers?

Charles Todd Dear Jeri:

Thank you for your kind words of sympathy and support. It is delightful to hear you enjoy our work.

Caroline and Dad were visiting me in NC. I took them to Kings Mountain Revolutionary War Battlefield. There is a mystery about a particular event and as mystery lovers we were intrigued. On the ride home Caroline said to me "you know, we should try to write a mystery. I dismissed it and concentrated on driving. Shortly after that my job changed and I was on the road a lot. I was looking for something to do in the evenings at the hotel. I contacted Caroline to see if she was serious about writing a mystery. As history lovers and mystery fans we chose England (our favorite place we visited often) and the post WWI period which was so pivotal for British society and the world. From there we began the Ian Rutledge series. There were a lot of false starts as we learned our craft and how to be co-authors. We began in the early 90's and submitted the manuscript to an editor we knew who accepted unsolicited and un agented manuscripts. In 1996 A Test of Wills was released and we never looked back. I am working on the next Rutledge on my own. If it lives up to the standards Caroline and I set for our work it will be submitted for publication.

All the Best,
Charles

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