Charles Todd

This was certainly an odd one. The protagonist is a nurse, Bess Crawford, working in England just following WWI (the "great war"). She is particularly distressed by the difficulties faced by veterans returning with missing limbs. It seems they don't feel useful. They feel like burdens and some take their own lives because the depression goes too far down.

She worries especially about a group of Welsh soldiers who have little hope in finding useful employment back in Wales. They can no longer show more work in the coal mines. When their captain, Hugh Williams, writes to the clinic to ask for help with these men, she wants to go. But the clinic does not approve the trip.

Bess has ten days of leave available, and because she has been working so hard, she is encouraged to use it. Saying she is going to visit her family and rest, she instead heads for Wales. Specifically, she finds her way to a remote coal-mining village, where she finds Hugh and Rachel, his sister-in-law (his brother was killed in the war), living in a cabin. Hugh is helping Rachel with her sheep farm as best he can, as she has more than enough to do.

Bess is deserted by her driver in the middle of the night and finds no easy way to leave the village. She witnesses some odd events and notes that villagers are secretive about something. They are even a bit threatening at times. Yet Bess has no way of reaching anyone she knows - by post or any other means. Nobody knows where she is, either.

It's a difficult and fearful spot to be in. Bess does her best to appear calm and accepting, and she helps villagers who are ill. But she is nevertheless not welcome there, yet not helped to leave either. Bess uses her time to unravel the mysteries around her, which is how she discovers why the villagers don't want her to leave. Can she find her way out? show less

Having re-read Dorothy Sayers' [b:Whose Body?|192893|Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey, #1)|Dorothy L. Sayers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387573241l/192893._SY75_.jpg|1090544] just a week or so before this book, I couldn't help but be struck by the ways in which both books address the lingering effects of the horrors of World War I trench warfare on surviving veterans. Sayers' books are a hallmark of the British Golden Age of crime fiction; the show more Rutledge series is set in that time, but has been written over the past 25 years.

In Whose Body?, Peter Wimsey succumbs to nightmares triggered by recollections of the war only periodically, while Ian Rutledge struggles with PTSD on a day to day basis. Not only do his memories of combat and death haunt Rutledge as he tries to re-establish his role at Scotland Yard after the war, the secret awareness by others of his condition drives part of the plot. A colleague jealous of Rutledge's investigative talents arranges for him to be assigned a case that has every appearance of becoming a political nightmare. When it all blows up, Rutledge should go down in flames.

The plot is very much a typical English village mystery, but with a thick overlay of issues tied to the war in different ways. Lots of the red herrings I love, and a very clever resolution. Rutledge pulls it out at the 11th hour, salvaging his reputation and setting up the rest of the series, which is now 23 books long! It's easy to see why it has been so popular and has won so many awards. I will definitely be returning to learn not only what crimes Rutledge is set to resolve, but how he moves forward with his life. show less

Inspector Ian Rutledge returns from the Great War shell-shocked and unsure. A superior at Scotland Yard would love to see him fail. The voice of a dead comrade has latched onto his subconscious. He secretly wonders if, chained as he is to memories of the War, perhaps his innate detective skills have left him. The first case thrown at him doesn't assuage any of these difficulties: victim and suspect are both military heroes.

I've read the first four Rutledge mysteries, and they only improve show more from here. (Someday, I'll get around to reading them all.) This first novel demonstrates well the strengths of the series. This is true historical fiction; readers won't stumble over any 21st-century phrases, perspectives, or reactions. Descriptions of the setting offer evocative detail without bogging down the story. The detective procedures unfold realistically, never sensationalized, and the rather large cast behave like actual people, not plot pawns. I'll agree with other reviews that the "twist" of this first book's resolution is a bit too convoluted, less "ah-ha!" and more "huh?" However, the mystery part of this mystery series seems to improve with each novel. Also, the villain's identity in this first one is perfectly constructed to resonate with Rutledge's own psychology and causes some heart-rending (for this reader, at least) questioning of himself in the novel's last pages.

And there it is, the ultimate reason to read this series: Rutledge himself. He's conflicted, crushed, ready to end his own life if the PTSD-induced voice of his dead friend ever takes over too much of himself. He's honorable, loyal, and utterly determined to do his job as an inspector. He's easy to cheer for and easy to ache for. When I pick up a novel, I want nothing more or less from its protagonist. A TEST OF WILLS establishes this series as one with substance, style, tension, and attention to history; and it establishes Rutledge as a character more than able to carry this series. show less

This is one of the best, in my opinion, of the long running, 1920s set Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, featuring our shell-shocked hero who holds running conversations with Hamish, an avatar, as it were, of his WWI sergeant, who he was forced to execute for disobeying orders when he one day just refused to send the men on one more asinine charge to their deaths. He's not a ghost, but the embodiment of Rutledge's guilt and horror from his was experiences.

In this entry, war experiences are a show more key element, but not WWI. In the opening pages of the book we see a horrific incident from the Boer war and we know from the get-go that this will lead to a revenge killing, and who will be behind it. But when it happens, Rutledge, of course, knows none of this. And so many people loathed the victim in the present time, figuring out how Ian will be able to determine that this ties to a hidden past in very suspenseful. And as it all unravels, more present-day bitter and tragic incidents are uncovered. And it all ties back to revenge, and the futility of it all. It's a masterful and absorbing plot. show less