Not one of the better novels in the excellent Ian Rutledge series, this one makes good reading nonetheless. The Scotland Yard inspector has the weekend off to attend a wedding, but unable to sleep after the wedding he is driving down a country road in the middle of the night when he comes upon a murder scene.
Stephen Wentworth, an owner of a bookstore, had been driving a young woman home from a party when they are stopped by someone standing in the road. When Wentworth gets out of his car, he is shot and killed after a brief conversation. Rutledge happens along just minutes later.
It appears to be a murder without a motive. The only person Rutledge can find who didn't like Wentworth is his own mother, who blames him for the death of her favorite son, Stephen's brother, when they were sleeping together as small boys.
The investigation goes nowhere until there is another murder of another well-liked man with no apparent connection to Wentworth. Rutledge later hears of another murder in another village that sounds similar. Again there is no apparent connection or motive.
Rutledge has the strangest sidekick in mystery fiction, the voice of Hamish, a Scottish soldier whom he executed during the Great War in France after Hamish refused an order to lead his men on yet another suicidal charge against the German line. Now Hamish offers advice about his former officer's murder case, and this time Rutledge needs all the help he can get.
No comments:
Post a Comment