Books For The Road - A Test of Wills

Just to see what's trending I take a look at the NY Times best seller list on occasion. There was a book there by Charles Todd called Proof of Guilt, but when I looked for it, I discovered that it was one of a series featuring a detective from Scotland Yard, Ian Rutledge. The wait was horrendous to download from the library so instead, I went to the first book of the series, A Test of Wills. Besides, I thought, if I like the bestseller, I'm probably going to end up reading the whole series. Might as well start at the beginning.

Ian Rutledge is quite a character that Charles Todd has come up with. A veteran of WWI, he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and a broken heart. He and his sweetheart parted ways when he was hospitalized. Ian only wishes the voice in his head he calls Hamish would depart as well.

Rutledge is given an assignment to investigate the murder of a war hero and the suspected murderer is another war hero. Rutledge's superior has given the assignment in the hope that he would fail or at least be the fall guy should a political fallout over the whole mess occur. Rutledge comes through though and solves the murder and lives to see himself go on to the second book in the series.

Todd masterfully makes you feel you are reading one of the old classic detective mysteries like Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Chrisite, etc. You won't find any CSI technology. It's all done on intuition, collecting facts from those involved or surrounding the murder, and putting it all together at the last possible moment. It feels like a step back in time and is a fun read in that respect.

So if you're up for a "trip" to England, open A Test of Wills and meet Ian Rutledge. I'm on to the next book, Wings of Fire.