A review by judyward
Wings of Fire: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd

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.