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d_audy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
northerly_heart_reads's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
leavingsealevel's review against another edition
2.0
I am enjoying this series, but also am sort of surprised by how dark the mysteries have been so far. At this point, the Bess Crawford series (same authors, have read them all) is very much a set of cozy mysteries, and I guess I'd forgotten that the earliest few books there were also somewhat disturbing.
megmcardle's review
4.0
Charles Todd's Inspector Ian Rutledge is one of those great characters of British crime fiction. He fought in the trenches of WWI France, and came back a shattered man, carrying the guilt of what he had seen in the war. The twist is that his guilt takes form as a very convincing delusion. Rutledge hears the voice of a man who died under his command. This voice, a Scottish officer called Hamish, serves as Rutledge's conscience. It is also the voice of his intuition, which he fears he lost in the war. I love the setting of between-the-wars England. So much devastation and loss, but people had to try and move on. In Wings of Fire, Rutledge investigates several suspicious deaths, including that of a famous poet. He always seems to be sent on the cases that are politically sensitive, and indeed there are hints that his Scotland Yard superior knows his weakness and is hoping he will fail. Rutledge was a huge fan of the poet, who he knew as O.A. Manning. No one realized until her death in an apparent double suicide that the poet was a woman, a spinster living in a small village. When she died, in a strange pact with her half-brother, Rutledge must find out the family's secrets. They have plenty, and I enjoyed following Rutledge's investigation. The author evokes life in a small English village very convincingly, and you are always involved emotionally with the tormented Rutledge.
judyward's review
4.0
The second book in the series by a mother-son writing team (one lives in New Jersey and one in North Carolina) whose books remind me of the books by the English writer Elizabeth George. Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to Cornwall to investigate the sudden deaths of three members of a prominent family. During the investigation, Rutledge realizes that one of the dead women is O.A. Manning, a spinister who lived a rather isolated life in a Cornish village and whose poetry helped Rutledge hold on to his sanity while commanding his unit in the World War I trenches in France. Rutledge is still suffering from shell shock and carries in his head the voice of Hamish, a Scottish soldier whom he was forced to execute during the war. An intiguing plot, an examination of the psychological scars brought back to England from the front by their World War I soldiers, and an excellent look at England in the post-war period make this a must-read.
rclz's review against another edition
3.0
Long way to get where it was going. I liked the first one better but I'll read another. I do like the Inspector I think this one just didn't hit home for me.
alissabar's review against another edition
3.0
Good mystery, but I think I liked the first one in the series better; however, I will keep reading this series because I think Charles Todd does a great job with his characters and I enjoy the historical aspect and the challenges that Inspector Rutledge is dealing with.
2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge: #49 A book from a series with more than 20 books.
2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge: #49 A book from a series with more than 20 books.