Book Review: A Test of Wills

When I read and reviewed The Red Door, I mentioned that I wanted to go back and start the Inspector Ian Rutledge series at the beginning. And I could barely wait to do it! I was drawn to the way the author, Charles Todd, has written these period mysteries in the style of the best of the real Golden Age authors.

This first installment did not disappoint. We go back to the beginning, back to Inspector Ian Rutledge's first days returned to Scotland Yard after the Great War. A case comes in, a case which no one would want. A great war hero is circumstantially implicated, and the Palace will be looking for a scapegoat. A certain person at the Yard seems to have it in for Rutledge, and sends him off, omitting to acquaint him with some of the pertinent details of the case.

We accompany him, and witness his tenacious determination to solve this case. Rutledge is a tortured soul, suffering from post-traumatic stress. All of the psychological and physical ugliness is laid bare for us through him, as it never was done by any of the contemporary Golden Age authors. Dorothy L. Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey sometimes gave us an inkling, but the overall treatment of the Great War by writers of the post-war period was to avoid any mention of horrors. It was all God, country, and the old regiment, hurrah!

Todd does us a service in reminding us that war is hell, and those coming home from it were in a particular hell of their own.

Memorable Morsels:

There's a bit more for a foodie to sink his teeth into in this installment.

• Wild strawberry jam (9)
• Roast mutton (90)
• Caramel flan (92)
• Thick beef sandwiches, coffee, sponge cake (222)

Links to Investigate Further:

Buy the book: A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries)
Authors' Page on Wikipedia
Authors' Website
Authors' Page on LibraryThing

Final Analysis:

Book Review: The Red Door

A wife paints her farmhouse door bright red to welcome home her returning-soldier husband at the end of the Great War. But he never comes.

An upstanding family man disappears in London, and then reappears with apparent amnesia.

A woman with the same surname is found dead in another part of the country.

These are the threads which Charles Todd weaves into the murder mystery The Red Door (William Morrow, 2010). This is the twelvth installment of the Inspector Rutledge Mysteries. I usually like to start a series at the beginning but this is my first introduction to Ian Rutledge and the post-war trauma that fills his every waking - and sleeping - hour. I've already marked this series down to read more.

The structure and prose of this story are very well done. The dialogue was authentic and realistic. The descriptions and the manner in moving the story forward were reminiscent of the best of the true Golden Age detective fiction.

Rutledge is a sympathetic character, internally tormented by the voice of a dead Scottish soldier who served under him at the Somme. His immediate superior doesn't like him, the girl he likes will barely give him the time of day, and he is being pressured to reunite with his godfather, also Scotch, for the first time since the end of the war. He is intelligent and brave, a good brother to his sister, Frances, and he carries out his duties at the Yard to his best ability, despite the wrath of his boss.

Memorable Morsels

• Dundee Cake

Links to Investigate Further:

Buy the Book: The Red Door: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

Authors' Page on Wikipedia
Authors' Website
Authors' Page on LibraryThing
Book's Page on LibraryThing

The Final Analysis:

Full Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher, through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program. This did not influence my review.