A Fine Summer's Day

by Charles Todd

Series: Inspector Ian Rutledge (17)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
394	25	64,651	(3.77)	47
New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd takes readers into Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge's past--to his perplexing final case before the outbreak of World War I. On a fine summer's day in June, 1914, Ian Rutledge pays little notice to the assassination of an archduke in Sarajevo. An Inspector at Scotland Yard, he is planning to propose to the woman whom he deeply loves, despite intimations from friends and family that she may not be the wisest choice. To the north on this warm and gentle day, another man in love--a Scottish Highlander--shows his own dear girl the house he will build for her in September. While back in England, a son awaits the undertaker in the wake of his widowed mother's death. This death will set off a series of murders across England, seemingly unconnected, that Rutledge will race to solve in the weeks before the fateful declaration in August that will forever transform his world. As the clouds of war gather on the horizon, all of Britain wonders and waits. With every moment at stake, Rutledge sets out to right a wrong--an odyssey that will eventually force him to choose between the Yard and his country, between love and duty, and between honor and truth.… (more)

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What a fabulous book! I loved that Charles Todd decided to write a book that takes Ian Rutledge back in time to before the war. To when he still was carefree, in love, and not haunted. Now, I do think he got away when it came to the marriage issue. Especially when there is someone in his life that definitely suited him better. On a side note, I still hope to one day read a book where he and Bess Crawford meets!

As for the case, it took an awfully long time for the dots to be connected. But, then again it's a case, or rather cases that don't seem to have not much in common. And, it was interesting to read about this frustrating case, and how Ian tried to solve them. Not giving up when a man he thinks is innocent is charged with murder. Ian just keeps on trying to solve the murders...

This is one of the best books in this series. A bittersweet book. If not for the war happened, just imagine what kind of life Ian would have had. Not to mention poor Hamish... (

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MaraBlaise | Jul 23, 2022 |

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MaraBlaise | Jul 23, 2022 |

Back to June 1914 and Rutledge is ready to propose to Jean. Meanwhile a wife of a man hanged for murder many years ago has died leaving their son alone. Then Rutledge is sent to investiagte a possibly suicide which leads to another body. But what is the connection.
An interestng and enjoyable well-written mystery with the backdrop of the bginning of World War I. (

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Vesper1931 | Jul 29, 2021 |

If you're into the Inspector Rutledge mystery series, you'll enjoy this trip to the pre-war era when Ian was starting out as a detective with Scotland Yard. It has all of the elements I've come to enjoy in the books by this mother-son author duo. A worthy summer read. (

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jjpseattle | Aug 2, 2020 |

This is our first view of a Rutledge who is not haunted by his war experience. The war is brewing as Rutledge is assigned a series of cases that appear to be unrelated, but which the reader knows are somehow connected to a man set on revenge for an unspecified offence. Rutledge has become engaged to Jean, who already shows signs of not understanding that his work will make demands on his time, that he cannot be a typical upper class man dancing attendance at summer parties. The tension between them increases when war becomes imminent and he does not rush to enlist. She comes of a military family and is disappointed that he does not follow her ideas of duty. Rutledge continues to follow his own idea of duty, pursuing justice for victims and attempting to clear a man he feels is innocent. In the process he offends his superior, Bowles, who resents the quick rise of an outsider. (

)

ritaer | Mar 3, 2020 |

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A FINE SUMMER’S DAY is a bittersweet gift to longtime readers of this wonderful series, a prequel that opens in 1914 on one of those perfect English days...This intimate look into the personal life of a detective we’ve known only as a damaged soul is no small gift....Although that mystery is intelligently developed and fairly resolved, the greater gift here is the portrait it presents of England before the war — and before young ladies began urging their men to march off to France. “I don’t want everyone thinking you’re a coward,” Rutledge’s fiancée declares.

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Canonical title

A Fine Summer's Day

Original title

A Fine Summer's Day

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World War I

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Epigraph

Dedication

1914-1918

To the men and women who served and died in the Great War. And to those who waited at home for the knock on the door and the telegram that informed them their loved ones had made the ultimate sacrifice. And not least to the wounded and the survivors, who ever afterward carried the mark of that war on their flesh and in their minds.

And to John, whose war was different.

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It was a fine summer's day in England.

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Caroline and Charles Todd

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New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd takes readers into Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge's past--to his perplexing final case before the outbreak of World War I. On a fine summer's day in June, 1914, Ian Rutledge pays little notice to the assassination of an archduke in Sarajevo. An Inspector at Scotland Yard, he is planning to propose to the woman whom he deeply loves, despite intimations from friends and family that she may not be the wisest choice. To the north on this warm and gentle day, another man in love--a Scottish Highlander--shows his own dear girl the house he will build for her in September. While back in England, a son awaits the undertaker in the wake of his widowed mother's death. This death will set off a series of murders across England, seemingly unconnected, that Rutledge will race to solve in the weeks before the fateful declaration in August that will forever transform his world. As the clouds of war gather on the horizon, all of Britain wonders and waits. With every moment at stake, Rutledge sets out to right a wrong--an odyssey that will eventually force him to choose between the Yard and his country, between love and duty, and between honor and truth.

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