{"id":3439,"date":"2013-01-07T15:39:28","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T20:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=3439"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:21:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:21:05","slug":"wings-of-fire-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3439","title":{"rendered":"Wings of Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wings of Fire<\/a><\/em> (1998) Charles Todd<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/a>The second Ian Rutledge mystery finds Rutledge sent to Cornwall, to look into the deaths of a prominent family: a double suicide and a fall. Adding to the confusion, one of the suicides turned out to be a famous poet, O.A. Manning, whose poems of love and war and death deeply touched many people, including Inspector Rutledge, who carried a book of her poems in the trenches during The Great War.<\/p>\n

In speaking of her poetry, the rector says the following:<\/p>\n

It’s a very interesting study of the face of evil. Olivia understood that, just as well as she understood love and war and the warmth of life. As a priest I found it… disturbing. That she should know the dark side of man so much better than I. That she should believe that Gold tolerated evil because it has its place in His scheme. That there are some who are not capable of goodness in any sense. The lost, the damned, the sons of Satan, whatever you choose to call them, exist among us, and cannot be saved because they don’t have the capacity for recognizing the purpose of good. As if it had been left out of the clay from which they were formed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interesting thoughts, shared with a man seeking a murderer.<\/p>\n

And again, flashes of the war.<\/p>\n

“I survived in those hellholes they called trenches for four years. It seemed like forty–a lifetime. I learned to trust my intuition. Men who didn’t often died. I was lucky to possess it in the first place, and the war honed it. I learned that it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. Nor was it a replacement for the God I’d lost. Whatever it was, you came to recognize it. An inkling, a warning, a sudden flash of caution, a split-second insight that saved your life. Indisputably real, however unorthodox the means of reaching you. It gave you and edge on death, and you were grateful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The history I found interesting here, was the blending of so many children–Rosamund had six children by three different husbands (all of whom died). Although typically it would be men–widowers–who lost their wives in childbirth and remarried quickly to have a mother for their children, such a blending was common. <\/p>\n

It’s interesting how blended families are becoming common again, not through death, as it would have been prior to WWII, but through divorce. It never fails to fascinate me how the more things change, the more they remain the same.<\/p>\n

Again, I don’t think this book was quite as good was the Bess Crawford books, but I still enjoyed it.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by St. Martin’s Minotaur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wings of Fire (1998) Charles Todd The second Ian Rutledge mystery finds Rutledge sent to Cornwall, to look into the deaths of a prominent family: a double suicide and a fall. Adding to the confusion, one of the suicides turned out to be a famous poet, O.A. Manning, whose poems of love and war and […]<\/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":[30,33,8,291,934],"tags":[123,125,637,212,513],"class_list":["post-3439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-paper","category-trigger-warnings","tag-charles-todd","tag-inspector-ian-rutledge","tag-post-ww-i","tag-ptsd","tag-suicide"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-Tt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":905,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/905","url_meta":{"origin":3439,"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":3574,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3574","url_meta":{"origin":3439,"position":1},"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":3439,"position":2},"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":3433,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3433","url_meta":{"origin":3439,"position":3},"title":"A Test of Wills","author":"Michelle","date":"January 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"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":3915,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3915","url_meta":{"origin":3439,"position":4},"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":[]},{"id":3478,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3478","url_meta":{"origin":3439,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3439","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=3439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}