Wings of Fire

I've enjoyed the other Ian Rutledge mysteries I've read, but this was one of my favorites so far. Mystery/police procedural novels can suffer from too much familiarity and cliche or from gimmicks. Todd sets the Ian Rutledge novels in post-WWI England, which is an interesting historical time period, and the novels reflect that not-so-far-off world quite well, which enough periodic detail to satisfy a historian of the era. The risk Todd makes is that these novels depict Rutledge, a survivor of the trenches, as a man on the edge of a mental breakdown. He is "haunted" (more psychologically than supernaturally) by the ghost of Hamish, a Scottish corporal Rutledge had to have executed for refusing to obey orders on the battlefield. Hamish show more argues with Rutledge, taunts him, reminds him of the hell he suffered in the trenches, and Rutledge's greatest fear is that other people will discover that a dead Scotsman talks inside his brain.

It could be a cheesy device in the hands of a less talented writer. But Todd--which, in reality, is the pen name of a mother-son writing team--is a very good writer. The novels plots are good, but the character of Rutledge--and of his nemesis, Bowles, and all the other characters that appear in these stories--is compelling. A tragic, flawed hero...maybe the best kind.

Definitely worth reading. All of them. show less

Second installment in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series. This time, Rutledge is sent off to Cornwall just as a "new Ripper" killer is terrorizing London. The Home Office has requested that The Yard look into the recent deaths of half-siblings Olivia Marlowe and Nicholas Cheney, which were marked down as a double suicide by the local constabulary. Another half-sib wasn't satisfied with that finding, and her family had enough standing to get the Yard involved. But Rutledge knows HE was chosen for this thankless, probably fruitless, task to keep him out of the way of the Ripper investigation, which could make someone's career. Furthermore, it comes to his attention that the dead woman was, in fact, the famous and highly regarded war poet, show more O. A. Manning, a fact which even her closest family had not been aware of until recently. Was it the poet who had to die, or Olivia Marlowe? Is it possible Nicholas was really the author of that so-unwomanly poetry? Or are there family skeletons hidden in the many many crannies of The Hall that could cast light on these deaths and others? Rutledge has his hands, and his head, full with this one, as O. A. Manning's poems were important to him on the battlefields of WWI, and the ever-present ghost of the late Hamish McLeod will not let him relax his guard for a moment. Great stuff, with an intricate plot that holds together, this one made me desperate to know "What happened?" and didn't let me down at the end.
Review written March 2015 show less

A more assured second outing for a mystery series that is becoming an addiction! This is a very well-written novel that happens to have a mystery at its center. The role of Hamish-the-voice is a little skimpier this time, not quite as loud on the page; I'm not sure that's entirely to my liking, but I think it's probably the best way to treat that difficult character. He could be a very great distraction, used too freely, though I find him fascinating...sleuth and sidekick only need one body!

I'm always interested in stories set in Cornwall, as this one is. It's such a different place, one that doesn't seem quite like England but undeniably is; it's so isolated (in English terms) from the main flow of the country that it seems to have all show more the advantages of being foreign...mystery, exoticism...without the inconvenience of learning a foreign language. Necessarily, that is, since a determined (an American would say "bloody-minded") effort is underway to "save" the Cornish tongue.

Inspector Ian Rutledge's work in this small Cornish village, whose Hall has seen three rapidly succesive deaths, is to determine with his London experience whether the local force did its job properly in ruling the deaths accidental or suicides. You can imagine that puts the backs up of pretty much the entire village as the news spreads! No one likes his territory big-footed across by the Big Noise from the City. It's just never a popular thing, and as the newsvine spreads the fact that it's a member of the Hall family...a cousin...who called in the Londoner, feeling runs even higher.

Todd examines how people, no matter their connection to events, respond to them with fierce passion. A simple childhood slight, an accident of observation, a detail changed by a fearful witness in a larger plan...all these play their role in creating and then sustaining a mystery that has at its heart the simplest of human motivations: Envy. Coming fresh off the Great War, this trope has special poignance, since it was largely the German Kaiser's envy of his cousins that set the conflict in motion.

I would recommend reading these books in order. I hope you'll give them a shot. They're good psychological novels that happen to come in a series and feature the same protagonist(s). Gladly recommended. show less

I am reading the early books in this series after starting at about #10. I appreciate them more now than I would have several years back. The pace is snail-slow, but I love all the details of the time period, the social structure and atmosphere that is built into Rutledge's methodology. He is slowly recovering his detecting abilities after surviving near-death experiences in WWI. Others constantly question his instincts and he doubts himself often, but continues in spite of it. Suffering from shellshock as it was known at the time, he lives in fear that he will betray himself to others, particularly if he talks back to the voice of his alter-ego, Hamish, which he hears in his head.

Inspector Ian Rutledge carries in his head the voice of Hamish Macleod. Rutledge had been forced to witness Hamish=s execution for disobedience of orders just before they were all buried by shelling that collapsed the walls of their trenches in the later part of WWI. Rutledge was hauled out barely alive, but the voice of Hamish and his running commentaries on Rutledge=s actions continues to haunt him so clearly that he wonders no one else can hear Hamish’s voice. The inspector is sent to investigate the deaths of three related individuals: two apparent suicides and an accidental fall down a long stairway. A well-connected relative finds the coincidence too unlikely and pressure from the Home Office being what it is, Ian is to verify show more or disprove the findings of the local constabulary. One of the suicides is an Olivia, a crippled poet. As Rutledge delves deeper into the tragedies, he learns from other members of the family that Olivia may be hiding several rather dark secrets. Evidence, all anecdotal, much to Rutledge’s despair, reveals that someone has been systematically murdering members of the family, making each killing appear to be an accident.. Soon even the local citizenry wish that this Scotland Yard interloper would just abandon the investigation, declare everything an accident, and go home. The wounds being opened are just too deep. After all, if Olivia is the culprit, and she is dead, what good can be served. “O. A. Manning [her pseudonym] is alive,” is Rutledge’s response. Todd writes very well and the suspense becomes quite unbearable as the suspicion moves from one member of the family to another. This is an excellent mystery. show less

This is the second book of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries. Inspector Rutledge is a man haunted by his experiences in the trenches during the Great War, and is suffering from shell-shock. Rutledge was forced to witness the execution of Hamish MacLeod for disobedience of orders, and Hamish lives in his head, haunting and taunting his decisions and actions as he investigates his cases.

In this story, three people from a prominent Cornish family are dead. A brother and sister by apparent suicide, and their half brother by an unfortunate accident. A cousin of the family finds three deaths too much of a coincidence to let sleeping dogs lie, and Rutledge is sent by Scotland Yard to investigate whether the local constabulary have done show more their job properly. While investigating, he finds more than he bargained for, and through it all he must handle the family and the locals with care. One of the suicides, Olivia Marlowe, is poet O. A Manning who has written poems that helped get Rutledge through the war.

I enjoyed the story. There were enough red herrings to lead you somewhat astray, but it is the voice of Hamish that is really interesting as he pushes Rutledge's mental buttons about his fitness and objectivity for solving the case. An interesting look at the effects of trench warfare on the mind of someone who barely made it through the war alive. The atmosphere of the Cornish coast was as much a character of the story as the people who lived in the village.

I don't really like this reader, however, he didn't seem as bad with this book as he did with the first. Maybe he grew on me. show less

I've decided to read Mr. Charles Todd's books in order, and I have been pleasantly surprised. I like the themes of World War I and a tortured detective and I also like the alter ego, brings a darker deeper wrinkle to the story.