A Test of Wills

Not worth what I paid for it

In the charming village of Upper Streetham, Colonel Harris, a kind and good man and a veteran of both the Boer War and the Great War, is shot dead in so foul a manner that his corpse is horribly deformed. His ward, Lettice Wood, her fiancé the famed flying ace Captain Mark Wilton, and a host of supporting characters all come to the attention of Inspector Rutledge, who has been sent to investigate this politically charged case, by his jealous superior, "Old Bowels" who would like nothing more than to see Rutledge disgraced. Now if that doesn't make you want to put down the remote and get reading, well how about this... Rutledge will be helped in his detecting by an unseen but not silent partner, Hamish MacLeod. Hamish is - well, who is he? A ghost from the battlefield? A figment of Rutledge's shell-shocked imagination? A stabilizing presence for the Inspector, who has not yet fully recovered from his ordeal in the war? The first sign of Rutledge's impending descent into madness? You be the judge. Poke around Upper Streetham with Rutledge and Hamish. Visit the famous artist who lives in the town, the Sommers sisters, one shy and one outgoing, the flying ace's cousin and perhaps lover the widowed Sally Davenant, the faithful (or his he?) estate manager Laurence Royston. Suspects all. Scotland Yard would like the mystery solved quickly, but Rutledge moves at a pace that will get to the truth, even if it means the embarrassment of Buckingham Palace and the end of his wobbly career. Will Hamish help or hinder him? And how will the Inspector deal with the fact that one of the chief suspects is also a veteran of the war, not yet healed? This is the first in remarkable series of classic whodunits. The reader will be hooked. And will wish to read all of the Rutledge mysteries, in order. A Test of Wills, Wings of Fire, Search the Dark, Legacy of the Dead, Watchers of Time, A Fearsome Doubt, A Cold Treachery, A Long Shadow. There is also a stand-alone Todd mystery called A Murder Stone, without Rutledge or Hamish. Read more about them at: www.Charlestodd.com Todd intertwines the supporting characters from book to book, so that Rutledge's and Hamish's friends and family you meet herein will appear in subsequent books, at some times, mentioned, and other times, key to the story. If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Set in 1919, Todd's fine first novel features Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge, returned from the Great War with a secret - he suffers from shell shock and is haunted by the loud, taunting, cynical voice of a dead fellow soldier. A spiteful, jealous colleague who harbors suspicions about Rutledge's mental health manages to have him assigned to a no-win case in a small village - the murder of a popular military officer. The chief suspect is a war hero and friend of the Prince of Wales. Worse, the chief witness is a deranged shell-shock victim. As Rutledge tramps over the countryside, making his dogged way among the resentful relatives and friends of the victim (who have already chosen a convenient scapegoat), feretting out their painful secrets, his own precarious state threatens to expose him with every brush of a raw nerve. Todd populates his novel with complex characters, each with the characteristic closeness of country villagers, and constructs an absorbing mystery (with perhaps a too surprising solution) in an atmospheric setting, but the real star of this novel is the protagonist. Without being overdone, Rutledge's edgy reality is gripping, the gibbering gnome on his shoulder a constant goad . This is still the best of the series.

I bought this book because it was listed to be one of the top 100 mysteries of the 20th century. I can often figure out "whodunit" when I read mysteries, and I appreciate a book where I am unable to do so, as happened here. Yet when the truth was revealed, I realized that I had been given all of the clues.I thought the character of Inspector Ian Rutledge was very well drawn; I was really able to sympathize with his struggle with shell shock, self-doubt and lost love. Although his shell shock contributed a lot to how he dealt with the murder case, it didn't distract from the mystery. His shell shock manifests as the voice of Hamish, a soldier under his command, who Rutledge had shot for desertion on the front in France. Some of Hamish's comments were obscure, but I didn't think he got in the way.The story held me in a pretty good grip, accelerating to the end. It was hard to put down in the last several chapters. All in all, very well done, and I think deserving of a spot on the top 100 mysteries.

This novel is one of the most beautifully written mysteries I've ever read! I found the first page captivating. Furthermore, every word of the prologue appears to have been carefully selected to provide clues about the nature of the crime and direct us to the murderer. The main character is believable, interesting, and sympathetic. The reader is drawn into post-WWI England in a powerful way, pointing again to the soul destroying effects of war, and the deeper resentments of the human soul. The characters are relentlessly believable - even the one's who aren't really there!