Guest of Honor, Charles Todd, is actually a mother and son writing team. Charles and Caroline Todd are best known for their extraordinary post World War I bestselling novels featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge, a returning shell-shocked veteran of the Great War. While Rutledge re-establishes himself in a promising career at Scotland Yard, he also struggles to come to terms with his ever present "companion," Hamish MacLeod, the young Scotsman he was forced to execute on the battlefield.

Washington Post Book World says, "Todd’s Ian Rutledge mysteries are among the most intelligent and affecting being written these days," and The New York Times says, "If anyone can turn a simple village mystery into a brooding Greek tragedy, it’s Charles Todd. Todd handles….grave issues with great compassion for his morally bewildered characters, who have had enough of guilt and retribution and long only for peace."

Currently there are eleven novels in this critically acclaimed series including: A Test of Wills, Wings of Fire, Search the Dark, Watchers of Time, Legacy of the Dead, A Fearsome Doubt, A Cold Treachery, A Long Shadow, A False Mirror, A Pale Horse, A Matter of Justice, and The Red Door.

A Test of Wills (1996) was nominated for the coveted Edgar award, an Anthony award, the John Creasey award, and the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Dilys award. It was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Wings of Fire (1998,) and Legacy of the Dead were also named NYT Notable Books of the Year, and Todd received another Publishers Weekly Starred Review for A Cold Treachery.

Todd’s eloquent stand-alone novel, The Murder Stone, featuring Francesca Hatton was published in 2003; and, A Duty to the Dead, the first in the widely praised Bess Crawford series was released in 2009. The second in that series, An Impartial Witness will be released in August 2010, and the twelfth Ian Rutledge novel, A Lonely Death, will be released in January 2011.