(1998) 2nd installment. Liked Rutledge a lot in this, but the story was a little weak. He tries to make heads or tails out of a very dysfunctional family that suffered the apparent suicides of two of its members and a third accidental death. Turns out that a murderer took out 2 of the 3 as jealousy ruled supreme.Kirkus: Scotland Yard's Inspector Ian Rutledge, still recovering from the ravages of his service in WW I, his thoughts haunted by the ghost of fellow soldier Hamish MacLeod, (A Test of Wills, 1996), is sent by Supt. Bowles to the village of Borcombe in Cornwall. Lady Rachel Ashford, of the influential Trevelyans, has asked for further investigation into the recent double suicide and accidental death within the family. Unearthing background, Rutledge finds that matriarch Rosamund Trevelyan, widowed three times, mother of many children, died of a laudanum overdose. Many years before, she'd suffered the accidental death of eight-year- old Anne, a twin to crippled Olivia, and later, the disappearance¥never solvedÂ¥of five-year-old Richard. Now, the adult Olivia, a respected poet, and her brother Nicholas have been found deadÂ¥of laudanum. Days later, their half-brother Stephen, hobbled by war injuries, falls to his death down the staircase at Trevelyan Hall. Meanwhile, Cormac Fitzhugh, son of Rosamund's last husband, wants to buy the Hall from the heirs, a prospect opposed by Stephen. Rutledge, undeterred by protests from the local doctor, police chief, family members, and retainers, tirelessly sorts through fact and legend to reach the truth. But he has more patience than sorely tried readers might as they untangle the snarl of family relationships and slog through an avalanche of high-flown, semimystical verbiageÂ¥all augmented by the terser, Scots-accented dialogue between Rutledge and his inner voice. The long-dragged-out solution seems scarcely worth the effort. (Author tour)Pub Date: March 20, 1998ISBN: 0-312-17064-5Page Count: 304Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin'sReview Posted Online: May 20, 2010Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998

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. ( )

Interesting plot set over multiple years in one family. Inspector Rutledge is filled with multiple uncertainties, a by-product of ptsd in WWI. ( )

In post World War I - July 1919 - Scotland Yard are asked to investigate when three people from the same family are suddenly dead. They appear to be two suicides and one accident. Inspector Rutledge is sent to Cornwall to look over the case.
An interesting and enjoyable mystery ( )

Good mystery. A bit challenging to follow. Not my favorite narrator, but we liked it none the less. ( )