Wings of Fire

by Charles Todd

I'm on a Charles Todd reading marathon...

This is the second book by a mother/son duo about the British Inspector Ian Rutledge. I have now read the first four books in the series.  The first one that I read, a number of years ago,was the fourth book in the series, Watchers of Time..  I really enjoyed that one.  I was intrigued by the writing and the ghost of a dead soildier who haunts the main character constantly.

I read the third book in the series, Search the Dark, last week.  I found it a real chore to read.... it just didn't grab me.

It was with some trepidation that I started to read this book, the second one in the series, after my reaction to the third one.  However, my interest and delight in this series was renewed.  I found this book fascinating and hard to put down.

A criminal, being likened to Jack the Ripper, is terrorizing London.  Rutledge's boss wants to get rid of him so that he(the boss) can track down the serial murderer and get the credit for solving the crime.  Rutledge is sent off to Cornwall to investigate what have been described as a dual suicide and an accidental death.  A family member is convinced that something is suspicious with these deaths.

No one seems to think that there is anything suspicious about the deaths, no one in the village seems to know anything and no one seems to want to talk if they do.  The local police want Rutledge to find nothing is wrong and leave quickly.  However, Rutledge finds that there have been several deaths, disappearances and apparent suicides in the family.  He feels compelled to get to the truth about them before he can make a decision about the recent deaths. 

Rutledge is surprised to learn that one of the two suicide victims is a famous poet, a writer of powerful poems including many about the war.  He is very familiar with some of the poet's work and is surprised that the poet is a women given the power and subject nature of her poems.

After speaking to many family members and neighbours, and reading the poems, Rutledge becomes convinced that there is a serial murderer in or after the family, but all he has is hunches, no proof, no evidence from witnesses.  All the people of the village are angry at the history he is digging up including the woman who originally requested that Scotland Yard come and investigate.  It is following his intuition and by ferreting out little clues in the poems and little tidbits from witnesses that he is able to identify the murderer.    I found this cerebral/deductive case very engaging right to the end.