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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
12/01/2016 -- Won this book on Goodreads.
01/16/2017 -- Received this book today.
09/26/2017 -- Finished this book on 08/25/2017.
The atmosphere of these books have a very different feel to me, and I can't quite pinpoint what it is. I have only read the first book in the series and now this one. I am glad I read the first one so that I could understand Hamish and how he plays into Inspector Rutledge's mind and workings, although Hamish's presence wasn't very strong or frequent in this story. As I haven't read all the books yet, there were a few things referenced that I missed in the story line of Inspector Rutledge's life, although the time line appears to only be a few years; however, the stories themselves were separate.
This book, however, started off with the action directly surrounding the mysterious death, so as I was a "witness" to that, I wondered how else it could have happened, while the focus of the rest of the book shifts to Inspector Rutledge being sent to unravel the mystery and dealing with the house arrest of the young women and apparently no one willing to help him in any way. I thought that was an interesting approach to a murder mystery -- show the reader what happened and then throw the wrench in with the other witness saying that it happened another way. That aspect frustrated me a little bit because the farmer was so stubborn and trying to solve that and then the mystery woman thrown in as well. It made for a lot going on in the story, with very little for Inspector Rutledge to go on and seemingly no one outside of the four women willing to help him.
This is a very interesting series, and I wondered as I've read how the writing team of mother and son go about their writing process, who writes what and so on. I look forward to going back and filling in the gaps in the series and to reading future Inspector Rutledge books.
***I received a copy of this book from a giveaway here on Goodreads in exchange for my honest review.***
01/16/2017 -- Received this book today.
09/26/2017 -- Finished this book on 08/25/2017.
The atmosphere of these books have a very different feel to me, and I can't quite pinpoint what it is. I have only read the first book in the series and now this one. I am glad I read the first one so that I could understand Hamish and how he plays into Inspector Rutledge's mind and workings, although Hamish's presence wasn't very strong or frequent in this story. As I haven't read all the books yet, there were a few things referenced that I missed in the story line of Inspector Rutledge's life, although the time line appears to only be a few years; however, the stories themselves were separate.
This book, however, started off with the action directly surrounding the mysterious death, so as I was a "witness" to that, I wondered how else it could have happened, while the focus of the rest of the book shifts to Inspector Rutledge being sent to unravel the mystery and dealing with the house arrest of the young women and apparently no one willing to help him in any way. I thought that was an interesting approach to a murder mystery -- show the reader what happened and then throw the wrench in with the other witness saying that it happened another way. That aspect frustrated me a little bit because the farmer was so stubborn and trying to solve that and then the mystery woman thrown in as well. It made for a lot going on in the story, with very little for Inspector Rutledge to go on and seemingly no one outside of the four women willing to help him.
This is a very interesting series, and I wondered as I've read how the writing team of mother and son go about their writing process, who writes what and so on. I look forward to going back and filling in the gaps in the series and to reading future Inspector Rutledge books.
***I received a copy of this book from a giveaway here on Goodreads in exchange for my honest review.***
I'm slowly overtaking Charles Todd's series featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge. This is the eighteenth in the series with one more to go, but I believe number 20 will be coming out this year. More reading to do.
After spending all this time with Rutledge through the past few years, I've come to the conclusion that he is a very nice man but maybe not a very good detective. He often seems more intent on not rocking the boat than with getting to the bottom of things, particularly when he is dealing with upper class women, as he often seems to do in these cases.
In this case, it is four young and beautiful upper class women in Cornwall who have been accused on the word of one man of attempted murder. When the victim later dies from his injuries, it becomes murder. I found the whole scenario of the so-called attempted murder and the witness's statement rather implausible. It was just one of my problems with the plot.
These four women decide on a sunny afternoon to take a rowboat out for a pleasure ride on the river. In the course of their trip, they come across a local man who is standing in his dinghy on the water and waving to get their attention. At first they think he is just flirting with them, but then two of the women notice that the boat appears to be sinking and he is trying to get them to help him. They row toward him and soon he is in the water and trying to get aboard their boat while two of the women try to pull him in and the other two balance and steady the boat. They are losing the battle and it looks like the man will drown when a man who saw what was happening from shore swims over and helps to pull the man in. Once the injured man is in the boat, the good Samaritan rounds on the women and demands, "Why were you trying to drown him?"
The local constabulary is called in and, based on the man's statement, the women are taken into custody. The rescued man is unconscious from a head injury and unable to tell what happened.
Because the women are "gently bred," they are not kept in the local jail but are under house arrest at the home of the magistrate, who just happens to be the father of one of the girls. Scotland Yard is called in, but the first inspector who is sent suffers a heart attack and dies before he has gotten very far into the investigation. At which point, Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to take his place.
Rutledge proceeds as though walking on eggshells in interviewing the women and then in interviewing their accuser. It's obvious to the reader that something isn't right here, but Rutledge only pursues it in a very roundabout way, trying not to upset anyone. When the victim dies, his parents refuse to talk to the police and simply insist that the women be prosecuted, and Rutledge doesn't challenge their decision not to be interviewed. I know this is 1921 England and a whole different political and cultural landscape but...really?
Then, of course, other people start dying violently and the plot thickens.
I have really enjoyed reading these historical mysteries, not so much for the mystery aspect but for the insight they provide to the history of the period. In particular, they reveal - without making a point of it - the classism and sexism that seem to have been endemic to that time. And much of this seems to relate back to the unbelievable devastation caused by World War I in which England, as well as other European countries, lost a substantial percentage of their young male population. Moreover, many of the young men who managed to survive the war, like Ian Rutledge, were permanently damaged by the experience. It has been fascinating to read how Rutledge has dealt with his shell shock. Now, two years after the end of the war, he is stronger but still shackled and haunted by his memories and by his constant companion, the voice in his head of Hamish, the young soldier from his command that he executed in the field.
The far-reaching impact of the consequences of that war were changing the society and slowly eroding the edges of the classism and sexism that seemed an ingrained and impermeable part of the culture of the time. Over a hundred years later, we can look back on the sea change that has taken place in society, even though a hard remnant of those attitudes remain to vex us.
After spending all this time with Rutledge through the past few years, I've come to the conclusion that he is a very nice man but maybe not a very good detective. He often seems more intent on not rocking the boat than with getting to the bottom of things, particularly when he is dealing with upper class women, as he often seems to do in these cases.
In this case, it is four young and beautiful upper class women in Cornwall who have been accused on the word of one man of attempted murder. When the victim later dies from his injuries, it becomes murder. I found the whole scenario of the so-called attempted murder and the witness's statement rather implausible. It was just one of my problems with the plot.
These four women decide on a sunny afternoon to take a rowboat out for a pleasure ride on the river. In the course of their trip, they come across a local man who is standing in his dinghy on the water and waving to get their attention. At first they think he is just flirting with them, but then two of the women notice that the boat appears to be sinking and he is trying to get them to help him. They row toward him and soon he is in the water and trying to get aboard their boat while two of the women try to pull him in and the other two balance and steady the boat. They are losing the battle and it looks like the man will drown when a man who saw what was happening from shore swims over and helps to pull the man in. Once the injured man is in the boat, the good Samaritan rounds on the women and demands, "Why were you trying to drown him?"
The local constabulary is called in and, based on the man's statement, the women are taken into custody. The rescued man is unconscious from a head injury and unable to tell what happened.
Because the women are "gently bred," they are not kept in the local jail but are under house arrest at the home of the magistrate, who just happens to be the father of one of the girls. Scotland Yard is called in, but the first inspector who is sent suffers a heart attack and dies before he has gotten very far into the investigation. At which point, Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to take his place.
Rutledge proceeds as though walking on eggshells in interviewing the women and then in interviewing their accuser. It's obvious to the reader that something isn't right here, but Rutledge only pursues it in a very roundabout way, trying not to upset anyone. When the victim dies, his parents refuse to talk to the police and simply insist that the women be prosecuted, and Rutledge doesn't challenge their decision not to be interviewed. I know this is 1921 England and a whole different political and cultural landscape but...really?
Then, of course, other people start dying violently and the plot thickens.
I have really enjoyed reading these historical mysteries, not so much for the mystery aspect but for the insight they provide to the history of the period. In particular, they reveal - without making a point of it - the classism and sexism that seem to have been endemic to that time. And much of this seems to relate back to the unbelievable devastation caused by World War I in which England, as well as other European countries, lost a substantial percentage of their young male population. Moreover, many of the young men who managed to survive the war, like Ian Rutledge, were permanently damaged by the experience. It has been fascinating to read how Rutledge has dealt with his shell shock. Now, two years after the end of the war, he is stronger but still shackled and haunted by his memories and by his constant companion, the voice in his head of Hamish, the young soldier from his command that he executed in the field.
The far-reaching impact of the consequences of that war were changing the society and slowly eroding the edges of the classism and sexism that seemed an ingrained and impermeable part of the culture of the time. Over a hundred years later, we can look back on the sea change that has taken place in society, even though a hard remnant of those attitudes remain to vex us.
Rutledge is a solid, appealing enough fellow--a sort of vanilla pudding of a man. And, this is an appealing book in the series. The mystery was well plotted.
Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to Cornwall to investigate charges against four young women who claim they were trying to rescue a drowning man. One witness however tells a different story- the women were trying to murder the man. With a scarcity of evidence , Rutledge is forced to delve into some long hidden grudges and secret motives. In the course of his investigation, Ian is forced to confront some old demons and relive memories of the horrors experienced during his service in WWI. A good solid British mystery.
I will never stop reading Ian Rutledge but the poor guy deserves a little happiness.
I made it half way and then skipped to the end - too much aimless wandering around without learning much, and a rather silly he-said-they-said murder accusation.
Goodreads tells me this is #18 in the series however this was my first book and introduction to this author. I really enjoyed it. A lovely old fashioned mystery with zero technology that was well written and very engaging. Possibly because I am coming in at #18 it took me a while to figure out that Hamish was not real which was really puzzling the first few chapters but once I realized he was not a living person it was OK.