The Confession audiobook

Another interesting episode in the ongoing series of Ian Rutledge mysteries. I continue to enjoy reading about post WWI Britain life through the lens of Rutledge's jaundiced, shell-shocked eye. While the crime and it's ultimate solution are center-most, what is happening in British society and the lingering effects of the war on all members are also included.In this outing, Hamish's presence is assumed, less explained, as are Rutledge's lingering symptoms from the War. They are a given. His personal story are a lesser backdrop but a constant presence. This would not be a good place to begin in the series.As for the plot itself, I know it is summarized on the GR page and many other places and will not do so again here. Suffice it to say, it's complicated, with questions of identity, pre and post war crimes, secrets of rural communities. Plenty to keep the reader interested.Recommended.

Fourteenth in the Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery series revolving around a 1920 Scotland Yard detective still suffering from shell shock after World War I.My TakeEither Todd is getting tired of writing it or Rutledge is beginning to recover a bit from the shell shock as he isn't experiencing the same depth of problems in this installment.Jeez, it's hard to believe an entire village can be so involved in the smuggling that they can simply write off human mercy — "a communal conscience … laden with guilt".Todd makes an interesting case for the wrong of "protecting" children from reality. So much that could have been different if only the truth had emerged. It was so sad as Rutledge revealed back histories to "today's" interested parties. So much they finally understood. So much that could have been better. So much that made me cry.Okay, Todd keeps dropping all these giganto hints of the heir to both Fowler and Russell and he goes nowhere with it. If he's going to throw out the red herrings, do it. Don't just plop it and leave it. I guess I'm whining because Todd is usually so devious and twisty with subtle underlayers that this particular hint was just so out of place.It's a shame about the cancer, Willet's books sound interesting and I so hate seeing a promising life cut short (even if it's only a fictional one!)…hmmm, maybe Todd will write us some short stories… He certainly has the period well in hand.Damn, what is with all the loose threads!The StoryWyatt Russell confronts Rutledge in his Scotland Yard office to confess to a murder. Yet, when Ian wants more details Wyatt backs down and runs. It's just odd enough that Ian decides to drive down to Furnham in Essex and explore. An exploration that leaves both Ian and Frances filled with dread.It's "Wyatt's" body being found with a bullet hole that really sets things off. Something is obviously wrong, and the feeling of "get out" that both Rutledges felt that day encourages Ian to dive into the investigation. And the more Ian investigates, the more muck is revealed: local and personal histories that tie in to a number of murders. Murders that haunt.Cynthia Farraday has no fans in Furnham, and her actions are certainly suspicious with her breaking into River's Edge and eluding Ian. Then the real Major Wyatt Russell is found, but nothing he says can be trusted, and he promptly escapes for a whirlwind of minor crimes. More digging reveals more possibilities with the cold case of Justin Fowler's parents' murders presenting yet more clues.The CharactersDetective Inspector Ian Rutledge is still recovering, actually, he'll never recover from his experiences in the trenches. Especially his having to shoot his sergeant for refusing an order. A typically stupid, WWI order forcing his men to attack a German emplacement that would only result in yet more death without any gain. Now Hamish MacLeod haunts Ian, a reminder of his action, but also a soldier who's got his back. Now he's Scotland Yard and continuing the fight for justice.Scotland YardSergeant Hampton. Sergeant Gibson hates Bowles as well and helps Rutledge any way he can. Chief Superintendent Bowles is ill…yeah! I'm hoping we get to attend his funeral…ooh, snarky much…? Inspector Robinson in Colchester is currently in charge of the Fowler murder case. Mr. Harrison of Biddle, Harrison and Bailey was the Fowler family lawyer; if he'd revealed all his information…River's Edge at Furnham in EssexJustin Fowler, Wyatt Russell, and Cynthia Farraday were children growing up together at River's Edge in Essex. With the war and Wyatt's mother's disappearance, those children scattered, and nothing is as it seems. Nancy Brothers was a housemaid at River's Edge with inside information on the family. Harold Finley was the chauffeur and then the caretaker when Fowler and Russell enlisted before he also enlisted.Mr. Morrison is the rector at Furnham. Sandy Barber, married to Abigail Willet, is the publican of the Rowing Boat and seems to rule the village with the exception of Timothy Jessup who rules them all. The innkeeper at The Dragonfly Inn is typical of the village — no one wants outsiders in Furnham, and their overt attitudes are loud and clear. Ben Willet was destined to be a fisherman, but he had more in mind for himself. First a step up to footman, then with the intervention of the war and Miss Farraday's encouragement, he took another step up to author. Constable Nelson is a disgrace to the force. George Munro was a fellow soldier whose life Rutledge saved on the Somme; now he works at the War Office with access to some useful info. Frances Rutledge is his sister. Dr. Fleming, Ian's psychiatrist; and, Melinda Crawford;and, Meredith Channing get a mention. The Cover and TitleThe cover appears to be snowing with an awkward angle looking up through the top of a wrought iron fence as a bird glides in the wind.The title is accurate, although it could be plural as there is more than one The Confession in this tale.

Charles Todd is actually an American mother/son writing team. They write mystery novels set in the World War I period. This happens to be a time that I am completely obsessed with, so I’ll forgive them their lack of firsthand Britishness. The Todd team, henceforth to be refered to just as Charles Todd, currently write two series. My favorite is the Bess Crawford series. Bess is a nurse during WWI and her penchant for investigation dovetails nicely with her desire to help those she encounters.This book is in the longer Ian Rutledge series. Rutledge was an officer in the war and now serves as a Scotland Yard inspector. What sets Rutledge apart from the many other war veterans of fiction is his severe shell shock. During the war Rutledge was forced to convene a firing squad and execute his sergeant, Hamish McLeod, for refusing an order during battle. Rutledge’s shell shock takes the form of Hamish’s ghost. He never leaves Rutledge in peace, but acts as part conscience, part confidant, part torment. Despite, or perhaps because of Hamish’s presence, Rutledge manages his investigations with keen insight into human nature and a dogged determination to bring criminals to justice.The Confession centers around an incident wherein a man, calling himself Wyatt Russell confesses to the murder of his cousin. Rutledge cannot hold Russell because the alleged murder occurred five years earlier, in the height of WWI. There is no body or any other corroborating evidence. Rutledge has no choice but to let the man go and poke around on his own. He begins to suspect that Wyatt Russell is not the man’s real name, however, before long the man is the victim of murder himself. Several strange things begin to surface about Wyatt Russell and his family. Russell’s mother is a presumed suicide. Russell and his cousin, the putative victim, are both listed as deserters from WWI. Something happened at River’s Edge years ago and someone is still willing to kill to keep it quiet.

The fourteenth book in the Inspector Rutledge series, and I am now caught up. More than usual, I was kept guessing right to the end. In the final chapters, as Inspector Rutledge was mulling over the evidence he had and found himself unable to settle on his suspect, I was confused right along with him. I enjoy books set in this post WWI period. The Rutledge series is a nice complement to the Maisie Dobbs series. Rutledge is a complicated character as he is a highly competent investigator with Scotland Yard and, at the same time, suffering from shell shock from his horrific experience as an English army officer in the war. His shell shock manifests itself in the form of a voice in the back of his mind - the voice of his sergeant and close colleague whom he had shot for insubordination in the heat of vicious trench warfare. Hamish, a Scot, is both his conscience and his savior, often sensing and warning of danger before Rutledge perceives it. All of these complexities of character makes for a most satisfactory mystery. I will be watching for the next addition to the series.

It was fun spending time with Rutledge and Hamish again and this was a well-crafted mystery plot. When the Todds first started, they had difficulty coming up with endings that I found believable and satisfactory. A few books ago they got that figured out and this conclusion to Rutledge's detection works--enough of a twist so that I wasn't expecting the specific murderer, but with a sufficient planting of clues so that I could ferret out the main reasons behind the crime and the revelation didn't appear to come out of thin air. The principal setting is the marshes of Essex along a river leading to the North Sea--what sounds like a rather forbidding, if starkly beautiful, part of England--at least in 1920. We see Rutledge moving some beyond the evil of his war--though Hamish will never let him get too far afield from the horrors and guilt of the Somme--to contend with a mystery arising out of historical and familial evil. An engaging read!

It's a long time since I've read an Ian Rutledge mystery: perhaps long enough that I haven't reviewed any of the others on Goodreads (I'll have to check). What this book really brings home to me is how isolated parts of Great Britain were before the motorcar and, especially, before the Great War. The motives of people who didn't turn out to be the killer were more interesting than the one who did. That being said, if you like Josephine Tey with a psychological twist, then this book will be your cup of tea, or something a lot stronger.

The narrator does a great job of building suspense.

A dying man shows up at Scotland Yard to make a confession of murder to ease his conscience only to discover that with Rutledge it isn’t that simple. Ian and Frances drive out to explore the lands end in Essex where the man once lived. Almost nothing is as it seems here.

It's 1920 and World War I is now well in the rear-view mirror, but Inspector Ian Rutledge is still suffering some of the effects of shell-shock (as PTSD was called in those days). He's getting stronger though, and it was refreshing in this 14th entry in Charles Todd's series to find him much closer to normal and able to function at a higher level than he has previously. He is still haunted by the voice of Hamish, the young Scots soldier under his command that he had had to execute for failure to obey orders on the battlefield. But Hamish seems a somewhat more benevolent spirit at this point. Perhaps he is beginning to meld into Rutledge's own personality and become simply the voice of his conscience.This story begins with a man walking into Scotland Yard and confessing to the murder of his cousin five years earlier, but it is a murder that has never been reported and there is reason to suspect that it may not really have happened. The man who makes the confession is dying of cancer and is taking morphine as a pain killer. Rutledge suspects that his mind may be affected by his medication, but he insists that he wants to clear his conscience before dying.Although Rutledge can find no record of a murder or an unclaimed body that could be the victim of the crime the man has confessed to, he is intrigued by the story and decides to take a road trip with his sister to the village in Essex where the confessed murderer grew up and where the "murder" may have occurred. There, he finds a very insular, unfriendly village that seems intent on discouraging visitors or newcomers. It seems apparent that the people there are desperately trying to hide some secret. But what? And does it have anything to do with the so-called murder? Rutledge can find no evidence and no reason to actually believe the confession he has been given.Then, less than two weeks later, the alleged killer's body is found floating in the Thames, a bullet wound to the back of his head, a woman's locket around his neck. Rutledge learns to his dismay that the man had given him a false name. He is really someone else entirely, but he does have connections to the man whose name he had used.Rutledge's investigation takes him back to that unwelcoming village and he begins uncovering some of the shameful secrets which the villagers have tried to keep. In doing so he discovers a long pattern of violence and multiple murders which may have some connection to the latest killing. We walk with the good inspector as he follows the evidence which often seems to twist and turn back upon itself. It's a complicated plot, and at some point in reading it, I put all of the characters in a line-up in my mind and said who is the most unlikely to be the culprit? And sure enough, it turned out to be him! Maybe I'm catching on to Charles Todd's tricks. Inspector Rutledge still moons a bit over his lost love and the reader wonders whether Todd will ever actually give him a significant love interest. Moreover, back at the office, Rutledge's nemesis Superintendent Bowles ("Old Bowels" to his subordinates) has suffered a heart attack and is in hospital and things are much calmer and running smoothly in his absence. It appears that we may get a new superintendent. Perhaps one who is not prejudiced against our troubled inspector and who will finally give him the credit that he deserves..

A man walks into Rutledge’s office at Scotland Yard and identifies himself as Wyatt Russell. From Russell’s appearance, it is obvious that the man is very ill. Russell admits to Rutledge that he is suffering from cancer and does not have long to live. His purpose for visiting Scotland Yard is to confess that he killed a man in 1915 and was never apprehended. Russell states that confessing is the only way to clear his conscience. He names his victim as his cousin, Justin Fowler.Rutledge is curious but confused. Although Russell admits to the murder, he is not willing to offer many details and eventually states that his confusion is due to the morphine that he is taking. Without enough evidence to open a murder inquiry Rutledge still cannot just let the matter go. His curiosity will not allow it. When a body is found floating in the Thames with a bullet in the back of the head, it turns out that the body is that of Rutledge’s confessor to murder of a few weeks ago. There is a gold locket around the man’s neck containing a picture of a young woman.Rutledge takes the locket and travels to Essex and the village of Furnham, the home of Wyatt Russell. Although the community of Furnham does not welcome strangers, Rutledge is able to speak to the minister who informs Rutledge that the picture of the dead man is not that of Wyatt Russell.It turns out the dead man who passed himself off, as Wyatt Russell is actual Ben Willet, the son of a fisherman, who grew up in the town of Furnham. Wyatt Russell resided at River’s Edge, an estate near the town. Wyatt’s mother took in a cousin Justin Fowler to raise after Fowler’s parents died. Cynthia Farraday also came to live at River’s Edge after the death of her parents. Wyatt’s mother disappeared from River’s Edge and her body was never found. Servants attested to the fact that the gold locket found around the neck of Ben Willet was actually owned by Mrs. Russell and there was a picture inside of Mr. and Mrs. Russell. Mrs. Russell was known to wear the locket daily.Rutledge is left with a puzzle of so many pieces it seems impossible to put together but he is determined. It seems that there are many mysteries surrounding River’s Edge to say nothing of the town of Furnham. The residents have good reason to keep strangers away. Rutledge has at least three deaths to puzzle out. Mrs. Russell who disappeared and is believed dead in 1914, Justin Fowler’s reported death in 1915 and now Ben Willet, who confessed to the killing of Justin Fowler when passing himself off as Wyatt Russell.The story is intriguing and the outcome is not one that I expected. Hamish McLeod, the ghost that rides shotgun with Rutledge, is present in The Confession but his presence is not as predominant as it has been in past Rutledge novels. I found this novel to be a great addition to the Ian Rutledge series but can be read as a stand-alone.