For a long time I assumed that I did not like historical crime fiction. So it’s taken me a quite a while to get around to reading this novel, the first in a series set in post World War I England featuring a war veteran, Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard. Charles Todd (an American mother and son writing team) clearly read Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey novels before embarking on this series. Rutledge, like Wimsey, suffers from shell-shock: the term coined in World War I to describe what is now called combat stress reaction and which is also encompassed by the condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. As is the case for Wimsey, Rutledge’s condition is in part attributable to being buried alive during combat. However, Sayers described Wimsey’s shell-shock from her knowledge of returned soldiers with the condition who had fought in the battlefields of France. They had been her fellow students and the brothers of fellow students at Oxford University. This first hand experience brought an immediacy and a poignancy to the descriptions of Wimsey’s suffering and the plight of World War I soldiers. (See, for example,The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club)It may be that the combined Todds know soldiers who suffer from PTSD and I have no doubt that they did their World War I research well. But for me, there was something a bit clinical, a bit manufactured, about the character of Rutledge. I really wanted to like him and to empathise with him, but he didn’t ring entirely true. Other characters remark how ill and thin he looks and rhetorically ask themselves what he has endured, but I didn’t get a true sense of his suffering. To my mind, Todd tends to tell and not show the reader what Rutledge is really like. And then there’s Hamish. When under stress (which is often) Rutledge hears the voice of Hamish, a Scottish corporal he executed for insubordination in the moments before he was buried alive. I am aware that auditory hallucinations can be a symptom of PTSD. However, I’m not sure that they manifest themselves in quite the way depicted in this novel. Hamish is partly the voice of Rutledge's conscience, partly a manifestation of his sub-conscious, partly a symptom of his psychosis, partly … well, I’m not exactly sure what. In any event, I’m not convinced that the voice of Hamish is an entirely satisfactory device. As for the mystery, it was competent enough, although with a bit too much dithering around chatting to suspects and not a lot of actual detecting. Plus, the resolution seemed to come out of left field. I’ll have to go back over the book to see if the clues to it were really there for a reader more discerning than I proved to be on this occasion. Overall, I was interested enough in both the central character and the plot to finish the book – and to do so pretty quickly. I’ll put down its weaknesses to the authors' attempt to find an authentic voice for their central character. I’ll read the next book in the series before deciding whether they were successful in doing so.
This historical mystery covers the same territory as the Maisie Dobbs books, taking place in the post-WWI years in England. From a modern perspective, both look at the sad results of trench warfare and the treatment (or lack thereof) of soldiers suffering what we now call PTSD. This book, written by a mother-son team, is darker than the Maisie Dobbs books. The detective, Ian Rutledge, is returning to his Scotland Yard job after the war, hoping that a sense of purpose and busy-ness will help him cope with his shell shock. Unfortunately, a jealous superior recommends him for a case (the first of his return) that involves one officer shooting another and a witness who is despised by the locals for his shell shock, which is seen as cowardice. The hope is that Rutledge will break down or fail and be sacked. I enjoyed the historical detail and Rutledge's struggle more than the mystery. I was compelled to keep reading by my need to know if Rutledge was going to make it. I would have given it 4 stars, but the solution to the mystery was rather a rabbit out of a hat; not one you could solve yourself. In fairness, though, even Rutledge didn't figure it out. He just stumbled into it. I liked it enough to read more in the series. I've got to know how what happens to Rutledge next.
What do You think about A Test Of Wills (2006)?
I absolutely adore the Bess Crawford mysteries so thought I would give Todd's other series a try. This one didn't work very well for me. It is book one of Inspector Ian Rutledge. The year is 1919 and the Inspector has recently returned home from the war. His supervisor hates him and is anxious to be rid of him. When a case comes along likely to destroy a man's career - a war hero accused of killing his fiances guardian - Rutledge is sent out with the hope that he will botch things. He works slowly to build a case where two perfect English men, best friends for years, seem to have lost their friendship in one explosive fight. Rutledge did nothing more than talk to witnesses for most of the book Since most of them were lying or clearly had no desire to answer his questions his lack of interest in doing anything else really bothered me. One character mentioned a deadly car crash several times. Never followed up on. He never checked with the bank regarding a pension. Never asked to see accounts, ledgers, the office of the victim - his entire case was built around talking to people reluctant to speak to him. Maybe the next one will be better but this makes me far from anxious to read it.
—Maggie Boyd
I had been reading the Bess Crawford books by Charles Todd, and discovered that the authors (a mother/son team) have also authored a series of books about a Scotland Yard detective, Ian Rutledge, set in the days following WW1. So, I picked up one of this series, A Lonely Death (see my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), and found it engaging. So, I decided to try this series, starting at the first book, this one.I must admit that, had I started with this book rather than the later one, I would probably not be trying any others in the series. While "A Lonely Death" drew me in and kept me engaged, this one I almost gave up on. It was slow, and kind of annoying. (Actually, I find the Hamish internal voice rather annoying, too. It probably will be present in most of the books, although I fervently hope that later books will make less of it, as -- one hopes -- the Inspector recovers from his WW1 psychological scars.) The Inspector seemed to be grasping at straws, and the book focused only on a very few possible candidates for the murderer -- the most obvious. Only at the last minute did something transpire to cause a different denouement, which I had suspected would be the case, but which I did not foresee the details of.So, I did not find this one very engaging, I will continue on to others, in the hopes that "A Lonely Death" is more typical of them.
—Bryan Higgs
Wow! I finally got to reading an Ian Rutledge novel. I really like Todd's other series starring Bess Crawford. So, I finally got around to trying this one. Am I glad I did.Now, I have to say any book set in this era is going to get my attention. I love books set just before, during, and just after WW I. But this book goes further than just having the Great War as a backdrop. He focuses on what the War did to people, to families...It has a wonderfully complex detective with what would be called PTSD today. It's a lovely addition to your basic English country murder mystery. Can't wait to read the next in the series.
—Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated"
