A Divided Loyalty

Several WW1-related mystery series are on the Great War 100 Reads book list, but only one title is amongst the first 100 books I read and reviewed here: A Test of Wills is the first in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd (actually the mother-and-son team of Caroline and Charles Todd). Delving into the mysteries was a bit of a risk – with several books in each series, they could have taken over my reading.

Then this spring, I saw the latest Rutledge mystery, A Divided Loyalty. It’s set in Avebury. I could not resist being drawn into the prehistoric henge and stone circle.

A Test of Wills

1919. The war is over, but its effects live on in the mind of Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge. He was a gifted inspector who spent four years in the trenches on the Western front. Now recovering from shell shock, can he can still do his job?

Rutledge’s boss wants him gone. (What’s behind the animosity may become clearer as the series goes on.) He sends Rutledge to find the murderer of war hero, Charles Harris. It’s a no-win assignment: the prime suspect, Mark Wilton, is also a decorated war hero and a favourite of the royal family.