What a glorious summer day in Britain and Europe June 28
turned out to be. Truly, a day full of promise of romance,
dances, brilliant sunshine and a warm starry night! That
pivotal day in 1914 proves to be a turning point for many
and times will never be the same again.
On that sunny June afternoon in Scotland, Hamish MacLeod
takes his sweetheart Fiona MacDonald on a picnic to show
her
where he plans to build a house and asks her to be his
wife.
Not quite as sure and after debating with himself (but
always carrying a small green box with him), the young and
confident Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge proposes to
the lovely, but shallow Jean Gordon in an English garden
under the shining stars. Meanwhile, a young man mourning
the death of his mother discovers her secret plans and a
driver in Sarajevo makes a wrong turn. Thus, accidentally
making the open carriage carrying the Archduke Ferdinand
and
his elegant wife Sophie an easy target for an assassin.
Just like the butterfly effect, these small acts activated
by love or revenge start small but reverberate across both
time and distance, affecting the lives of each of them and
many others. Other small, yet seemingly random events
happen - some tombstones are desecrated, a man in
Yorkshire
is found hanging in his house, local police are busy and
Chief Inspector Bowles gets annoyed and seeks to make life
difficult for Rutledge.
Despite the balmy summer weather, Rutledge senses the
tensions. After the recent death of his parents, he feels
fully responsible for his young sister Frances. How does
she feel about his engagement? He is a professional
policeman and, despite the frustrations of the cases he is
working on, he is committed to his work. Yet, as he gets
closer to Jean and her family, he soon realizes that every
family has their own history and perspective. How well
will
a policeman fit into a military family, especially now on
the brink of war?
Meanwhile, Bowles keeps loading Rutledge's plate and
hampering his investigations with seemingly minor cases
that
the local police want to wrap up quickly. While the cases
seem cut and dry, small anomalies bother Rutledge. He
suspects they are not what they seem... but can he find
the
linkage before more deaths occur?
While A FINE SUMMER'S DAY is the seventeenth book in the
Inspector Ian Rutledge series written by the superb
mother
and son writing team of Charles and Caroline Todd, it is a
distinct departure from the earlier books all set in the
post-World War I/1920s era in England.
In fact, A FINE SUMMER'S DAY is the prequel to the earlier
books all written under the name of Charles Todd and it
provides a fuller and more comprehensive story of
Rutledge's
younger life that have alluded to in the first sixteen
books
in the series. This intriguing story is told both as an
ongoing mystery to be solved as well as through a series
of
flashbacks that help illuminate the motivations behind the
various characters' actions.
Todd's many, many fans will be thrilled with this backdrop
story that is a great mystery in its own right as well as
gaining a fuller background on the various characters in
the
Ian Rutledge Mystery Series. In addition, this story
highlights a linkage to some of the characters in the
well-
regarded Bess Crawford Mysteries also written by the Todd
team. Yet, as A FINE SUMMER'S DAY is a prequel story, it
can also be easily read as a stand-alone book or by
readers
new to the series who will then have the great pleasure of
reading the earlier books.
While the start of A FINE SUMMER'S DAY may seem a tad
confusing for some readers, the story quickly moves along
with some very unexpected happenings as Rutledge begins
pulling together his own small threads of clues. From my
perspective, one of the best talents of the Todd writing
team is that they can so totally immerse the reader in the
vocabulary and times of pre-world war I England, that one
is
almost startled by the world when the readers finally lift
their eyes off the page. The Todd team's command of the
period's vocabulary, manners, class attitudes, morals,
ideas
and small pleasures is so vividly authentic, you can
easily
visualize each and every one of the very well-crafted
characters in A FINE SUMMER'S DAY.
If you like historical mysteries, I can happily recommend
A
FINE SUMMER'S DAY as a great place to start! A wonderful
reading pleasure to start off the new year!
New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd
takes readers into Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge’s
past—to his perplexing final case before the outbreak of
World War I.
On a fine summer’s day in June, 1914, Ian Rutledge pays
little notice to the assassination of an archduke in
Sarajevo. An Inspector at Scotland Yard, he is planning to
propose to the woman whom he deeply loves, despite
intimations from friends and family that she may not be
the
wisest choice.
To the north on this warm and gentle day, another man in
love—a Scottish Highlander—shows his own dear girl the
house
he will build for her in September. While back in England,
a
son awaits the undertaker in the wake of his widowed
mother’s death. This death will set off a series of
murders
across England, seemingly unconnected, that Rutledge will
race to solve in the weeks before the fateful declaration
in
August that will forever transform his world.
As the
clouds of war gather on the horizon, all of Britain
wonders
and waits. With every moment at stake, Rutledge sets out
to
right a wrong—an odyssey that will eventually force him to
choose between the Yard and his country, between love and
duty, and between honor and truth.
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