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A review by fiddler76
A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
3.0
Pretty good mystery. Set in England, just after the first world war, so its an old-style mystery, no forensic stuff going on. The most interesting part of the overall mystery, is that the Inspector working the case just cannot find anyone who disliked the victim. So establishing motive becomes his toughest task.
This is the first in the series about Inspector Rutledge, himself a war veteran, fighting the devils he has brought back from the war. The author pitches us right into the action, and we know about the murder from the first three paragraphs of the book! Its also well established that Rutledge is expected to fail by his superiors, and this might be something of a running theme through the series, as its not completely explained why Rutledge's boss doesn't like him.
However, the problem i faced with the book is that it sort of loses the urgency at times, and its a bit repetitive at times, with the same facts being reiterated by several characters, over several chapters. But the writing is pretty good, and it wasn't so bad that i lost interest. The climax was pretty satisfying for me, and suddenly a lot of the buildup started to make sense!
So ya, liked it. Will definitely try more from the series. But my current favorite mystery writers still remain Colin Cotterill, Henning Mankell and Andrea Camilleri!
This is the first in the series about Inspector Rutledge, himself a war veteran, fighting the devils he has brought back from the war. The author pitches us right into the action, and we know about the murder from the first three paragraphs of the book! Its also well established that Rutledge is expected to fail by his superiors, and this might be something of a running theme through the series, as its not completely explained why Rutledge's boss doesn't like him.
However, the problem i faced with the book is that it sort of loses the urgency at times, and its a bit repetitive at times, with the same facts being reiterated by several characters, over several chapters. But the writing is pretty good, and it wasn't so bad that i lost interest. The climax was pretty satisfying for me, and suddenly a lot of the buildup started to make sense!
So ya, liked it. Will definitely try more from the series. But my current favorite mystery writers still remain Colin Cotterill, Henning Mankell and Andrea Camilleri!