⋙ PDF Gratis A Test of Wills Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries Charles Todd 9780061242847 Books

A Test of Wills Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries Charles Todd 9780061242847 Books

Download As PDF : A Test of Wills Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries Charles Todd 9780061242847 Books

A Test of Wills Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries Charles Todd 9780061242847 Books

Charles Todd is the pen name for a mother-and-son writing team, Caroline and Charles Todd, a rather strange arrangement that works extremely well. Nearly twenty award-winning novels written together signal a partnership that is enduring and highly productive. “A Test of Wills,” published in 1996, is the first in the series featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge, a shell-shocked veteran of World War I, who struggles to regain his position with Scotland Yard and to overcome the mocking mind-voice of Hamish MacLeod, a Scottish soldier he was forced to execute during the heat of battle, a riveting story by itself.

Rutledge is assigned to a murder case in Warwickshire by Chief Supervisor Bowles, a man who dislikes the damaged Rutledge and who expects the detective to fail in his investigation and thus be stripped of his Scotland Yard career. The case involves the shooting death of a well-liked retired army colonel. Six suspects are uncovered, three women and three men, including some in great favor of the Royal Family and others who have tenuous motives but strong alibis. Immense writing skills are needed to keep the story comprehensible because of its intricacy and Charles Todd succeeds nicely.

Strong characters and realistic dialogue combine to form an intriguing narrative and Hamish’s mocking and critical voice in Rutledge’s mind adds to the inspector’s confusion as he tries to untangle the complex relationship between all the protagonists. The only real witness to the crime seems to be a drunken war veteran with severe PTSD and the strongest suspect is a village troublemaker who doesn’t give a fig for much of anything, and who is well known for his threats of violence as he raves around the town in fits of anger.

The Todds are adept at twisting the tale into tangled sequences through probing interviews, chance encounters, and mind games that are intriguing. The location settings are magnificent and the reader is transported to a time in English history that evokes images of sadness and loss. I greatly enjoyed this puzzle of immense complexity written in imaginative prose.

Schuyler T Wallace
Author of TIN LIZARD TALES


Tags : A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries) [Charles Todd] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. “Todd has written a first novel that speaks out, urgently and compassionately, for a long-dead generation….A meticulously wrought puzzle.”<br />—New York Times Book Review “An intricately plotted mystery. With this remarkable debut,Charles Todd,A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries),Harper,0061242845,Mystery & Detective - General,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,Crime & mystery,FICTION Mystery & Detective General,FICTION Mystery & Detective Historical,FICTION Mystery & Detective Traditional,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,MASS MARKET,Mystery & Detective - Historical,Mystery & Detective - Traditional British,MysterySuspense

A Test of Wills Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries Charles Todd 9780061242847 Books Reviews

I have read a couple of Charles Todd's Bess Crawford books and I thought it was time to check out the mother and son duos other historical series; the Ian Rutledge series. The Bess Crawford books take place during WW1, but the Ian Rutledge series takes place just after the end of WW1. And, while Bess Crawford is a nurse at the front is Ian Rutledge a policeman at the Scotland Yard.

Ian Rutledge is back at work after five years at the front. But what not many know is that he is suffering from shell shock and he hears voices. Or rather he hears voices of one particular man that he knew from the war. A man that never got home alive and he feels guilty about it. But he still tries to do a good job, despite the fact that he suffering from shell shock.

In this, the first book is he sent to deal with the murder of well-liked Colonel Charles Harris who was shot while he was out riding in the morning. He was seen by the house staff arguing with Mark Wilton, the main suspect on the day before. Mark Wilton is also the Colonels wards fiance and Charles and Mark are good friends. There is no evidence that Mark is the killer and the only man that says that he saw the two men together arguing on the day the Colonel died is a man suffering from shell shock. That disturbs Ian Rutledge who starts to suspect that someone at Scotland Yard knows about is affliction and that he was given this case so that he would fail.

This is the kind of book that takes awhile to get into. You don't know that much about Ian Rutledge, but clues about him, about his time in the war and what happen to him, is revealed throughout the book. In the end, I came to like him very much, he is a man that been through hell, that is trying to get back to the life he had before the war, but it's hard. Jean, the woman he loves, broke up with him after he got home. He was not the man she had known before the war and neither was she the girl he knew before the war. And, it doesn't make it better that he is hearing the voice of Hamish in his head.

The case was interesting, albeit the start of the book was a bit slow as much of the time, in the beginning, is spent on getting to know all the involved characters, their relationship with the murdered man. It was in no way boring, but it felt like it took some time to get somewhere with the case. But it's well worth it since it made you really get to know the characters, they feel well developed. Rutledge had to during the days he was on the case painstakingly try to find out the answers from people that not always was that forthcoming with the truth. And, I really liked the last part of the book when it all started to make sense and the truth about the murder was revealed. I was surprised about how it all turned out and never suspected that kind of ending.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series. I like Rutledge, and I hope he will get better and that he someday will find peace. Also, I really hope that he will meet Bess Crawford some day.

4.5 stars
Charles Todd is the pen name for a mother-and-son writing team, Caroline and Charles Todd, a rather strange arrangement that works extremely well. Nearly twenty award-winning novels written together signal a partnership that is enduring and highly productive. “A Test of Wills,” published in 1996, is the first in the series featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge, a shell-shocked veteran of World War I, who struggles to regain his position with Scotland Yard and to overcome the mocking mind-voice of Hamish MacLeod, a Scottish soldier he was forced to execute during the heat of battle, a riveting story by itself.

Rutledge is assigned to a murder case in Warwickshire by Chief Supervisor Bowles, a man who dislikes the damaged Rutledge and who expects the detective to fail in his investigation and thus be stripped of his Scotland Yard career. The case involves the shooting death of a well-liked retired army colonel. Six suspects are uncovered, three women and three men, including some in great favor of the Royal Family and others who have tenuous motives but strong alibis. Immense writing skills are needed to keep the story comprehensible because of its intricacy and Charles Todd succeeds nicely.

Strong characters and realistic dialogue combine to form an intriguing narrative and Hamish’s mocking and critical voice in Rutledge’s mind adds to the inspector’s confusion as he tries to untangle the complex relationship between all the protagonists. The only real witness to the crime seems to be a drunken war veteran with severe PTSD and the strongest suspect is a village troublemaker who doesn’t give a fig for much of anything, and who is well known for his threats of violence as he raves around the town in fits of anger.

The Todds are adept at twisting the tale into tangled sequences through probing interviews, chance encounters, and mind games that are intriguing. The location settings are magnificent and the reader is transported to a time in English history that evokes images of sadness and loss. I greatly enjoyed this puzzle of immense complexity written in imaginative prose.

Schuyler T Wallace
Author of TIN LIZARD TALES