{"id":3433,"date":"2013-01-06T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2013-01-06T18:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=3433"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:21:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:21:05","slug":"a-test-of-wills-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3433","title":{"rendered":"A Test of Wills"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Test of Wills<\/a><\/em> (1996) Charles Todd<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This was a re-read. After reading and thoroughly enjoying the Bess Crawford mystery, I remembered I had several books in Charles Todd’s Ian Rutledge series, and decided to reread them.<\/p>\n

Inspector Rutledge of Scotland Yard served in the Great War, and he’s suffering shell shock from his experiences there, but he has hoped that returning to work will help him past this, and if he’s busy, he’ll stop remembering the war, and stop hearing the voices of those lost under his command.<\/p>\n

Colonel Harris was well liked by everyone Upper Streetham, so his brutal murder came as a terrible shock. His beautiful ward was preparing to marry Captain Wilton, but rumors of an argument have made the dashing war hero a suspect, so Rutledge is sent by a jealous superior in Scotland Yard, who hopes the case might break him.<\/p>\n

This series is set after the great war (the Bess Crawford series is set during the war) and Ian Rutledge is a damaged man. What I like about this book is the same thing I enjoyed about the Bess Crawford–a look at the early twentieth century, and the changes (and destruction) wrought by the war–as well as of a world undergoing rapid change.<\/p>\n

“Tell me something. Why is everyone so determined to believe Wilton is innocent?”<\/p>\n

Surprised, Davies said, “He’s a war hero isn’t he? Admired by the King and a friend of the Prince of Wales. He’s visited Sandringham, been received by Queen Mary herself! A man like that doesn’t go around killing people!”<\/p>\n

With a wry downturn of his lips, Rutledge silently asked, How did he win his medals, you fool, if not by being so very damned good at killing?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think we still forget that.<\/p>\n

Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by HarperCollins<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Test of Wills (1996) Charles Todd This was a re-read. After reading and thoroughly enjoying the Bess Crawford mystery, I remembered I had several books in Charles Todd’s Ian Rutledge series, and decided to reread them. Inspector Rutledge of Scotland Yard served in the Great War, and he’s suffering shell shock from his experiences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,30,33,8,291,934],"tags":[123,125,637,212],"class_list":["post-3433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-paper","category-trigger-warnings","tag-charles-todd","tag-inspector-ian-rutledge","tag-post-ww-i","tag-ptsd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-Tn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":905,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/905","url_meta":{"origin":3433,"position":0},"title":"Wings of Fire","author":"Michelle","date":"January 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Wings of Fire (1998) Charles Todd Wow. Just like the first book, A Test of Wills, the second book, Wings of Fire was also quite depressing. Which leads to me to wonder: why am I surprised that a murder mystery is depressing? After all, the very premise of a murder\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Wings-Fire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":864,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/864","url_meta":{"origin":3433,"position":1},"title":"A Test of Wills","author":"Michelle","date":"December 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A Test of Wills (1996) Charles Todd Inspector Ian Rutledge has returned from the Great War a far different man than when he left Scotland Yard for the Army. He returned to England suffering from shell shock and only with after a great effort was he able to return to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/Test-Wills.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3574,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3574","url_meta":{"origin":3433,"position":2},"title":"The Kidnapping","author":"Michelle","date":"February 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kidnapping (2010) Charles Todd This is a single short story, and three excerpts, which I sort of found annoying, although I have to admit, that as far as excerpts go, they were interesting. The Kidnapping is a very brief story that finds Ian Rutledge drug into a kidnapping case,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13771,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13771","url_meta":{"origin":3433,"position":3},"title":"Tales: Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford","author":"Michelle","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Tales: Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford (2015) Charles Todd This collection is four short stories with Bess Crawford and Ian Rutledge. \"The Kidnapping\" \"The Girl on the Beach\" \"Cold Comfort\" \"The Maharani's Pearls\" \"The Kidnapping\" - Ian Rutledge, London 1920 I actually have a copy of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tales Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Tales-Short-Stories-Featuring-Ian-Rutledge-and-Bess-Crawford.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3478,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3478","url_meta":{"origin":3433,"position":4},"title":"Search the Dark","author":"Michelle","date":"January 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Search the Dark (1999) Charles Todd This is the third Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery. A man goes made on a train, believe he's seen his wife and children, who were killed when their house collapsed and burned during the war. When a woman's body appears--badly beaten and disfigured--suspicion falls upon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Search-Dark.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3915,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3915","url_meta":{"origin":3433,"position":5},"title":"Legacy of the Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"July 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Legacy of the Dead (2000) Charles Todd The fourth Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery finds Rutledge sent to Scotland--the last place he wants to go, for he still hears the voice of Hamish MacLeod over his shoulder, haranguing him, and reminding him of the dead lost in France during the Great\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Legacy-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}