Inspector Ian Rutledge #25
Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge’s long-awaited return is set in July 1921. He’s still suffering from shell shock and England is suffering from a heat wave when a body washes up near the island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland. Since the “holy island,” home to Saints Cuthbert and Aidan, is a popular pilgrimage destination, the Church of England is concerned about how the murder will affect its reputation and that of Lindisfarne itself.
Newly promoted Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to investigate the murder and to use his social and political skills to protect the Church’s reputation. He finds locals who are suspicious of outsiders and still angry about U-boat attacks off their coast during WWI. He also finds that police jurisdiction is in the midst of a post-war reorganization that raises questions about who should be involved in the investigation with Rutledge.
Rutledge soon discovers that resentment towards the Germans is highly focused on the sinking of a local ship (and the murder of its crew) the day before the Armistice. Could there be a connection between the murdered man and the sunken ship? And what about the many local militias that still remain influential after the war? Might the victim have been a German sympathizer murdered by one of the militias? The case is far more complex than anticipated and certainly not an accidental drowning.
I learn a lot about history from this series. Until now my knowledge of U-boats was limited the Lusitania and the vague understanding that romantic Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music was a real-life U-boat commander who sank merchant ships. I now know a lot more about U-boats, the function of the different Northumberland militias, and post-war police jurisdiction of Northumbria!
Investigation of the local militias stirs Rutledge’s awful memories of the war, causing nightmares and making Hamish more antagonistic. Hamish is the mental presence of one of Rutledge’s subordinates whom he had to execute for not following orders. Immediately afterwards a bomb went off and Rutledge was buried alive with Hamish’s body, causing terrible on-going shell shock in the form of the presence of Hamish in Rutledge’s mind. Hamish represents both the horrors of war Rutledge must live with and the dead for whom Rutledge speaks and seeks justice for as a police inspector.
I was pleased to see an appearance by Melinda Crawford, a mother/aunt figure to Rutledge, and hints that there might still be a relationship between Rutledge and Kate Gordon. I was sad to learn of the death of Rutledge’s former love interest Meredith Channing. Their relationship ended when her missing husband was found alive but wounded and she went to France to care for him, where she later died. Bess Crawford, Melinda’s niece, is mentioned in passing but there was no indication how or when her series and Rutledge’s might be combined.
I’m sad that Caroline Todd, Charles’s mother and co-author, is no longer with us but glad the series is continuing with its usual quality of research, plot, and description. Well-done, Charles! — Cathy Akers-Jordan