Legacy of the Dead: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

It's not that 'Legacy to the dead' didn't make an interesting read but the story was so flawed from the start and the premise so unconceivable the telling was tainted right from the start. What I couldn't accept was that Fiona McDonald would find herself held in custody, awaiting her trial for murder when there was not an iota of proof that she had murdered anyone. I don't care if it was Scotland and 1919 but I cannot believe that she would be made to endure all this when the only thing certain was that she had lied about being the mother of the child she was bringing up and when the murder charge rested on anonymous letters and nothing else. There were bones found in the region where she had grown up. So what? Anybody could have killed that woman?No one knew who she was anyway and therefore no link could be established between the remains and the prisoner. What's more, it is hard to credit a lone female would be able to drag a woman's body up a mountain to dispose of it. Where would she have found the strength? And why assume that the dead woman must have born a child? There's no earthly proof of the fact! Why assume that because Fiona had been rearing someone else's child she would automatically have killed the mother? Unwanted pregnancy was such a social stigma that if Fiona was willing to take the risks and care for the infant the mother of the illegitimate child would be so grateful there would be no reason to fear her and no reason to kill her. Very unlikely she would change her mind later and ask for the child back! As it is, Fiona's ending up in prison in the book is only due to bigotry, mysoginy, jealousy and general imbecility and I find it too easy a ploy to use and a sad and probably very untrue portrayal of a Scottish village. Very difficult to believe that no one , among the Scots , would have had enough backbone to fight her corner and still more difficult to imagine that the whole village from the vicar to the chief of Police were nothing more than bigots, morons and frustrated matrons all threatened by a stranger's pretty face and willing to make her pay dearly and see her hang.

I have just finished 'Legacy of the Dead',a truly exceptional experience. This is the third of the Ian Rutledge books and I am working my way through the entire series and I would recommend anyone who enjoys books with a historical setting to do the same.My current interest is in the postwar years of the 20's with the struggle of soldiers trying to return to their 'normal' lives after four years of the horror of mud and death in the trenches of Northern France.Rutledge with his struggle to stay sane and functional is a poignant and iconic figure, he struggles and survives. The detection side of the story is very well done with plenty of odd twists and turns.This was an experience I am happy to have had,not only a good mystery but a truly powerful look at the human condition.

I have only recently come across the Inspector Ian Rutledge series and this book like all the others in the series so far is an excellent read. Well written and this one keeps the reader interested and involved from start to finish. You do not need to have read books 1-3 in the series before buying this book.

Historic pastoral landscapes can hold so much beauty and new ventures but also so many buried secrets and doubt as Inspector Ian Rutledge will soon discover in his fourth return to readers vivid and racing imaginations. Sent to investigate the disappearance of a wayward heiress and any possible connection to a body found in the remote mountains of Scotland, Rutledge travels through mists and painful memories as he tries to solve a crime and regain order of his life after The Great War that has left its mark. It's another race against the clock as the Inspector must confront ugly rumours and try to wrestle some type of sanity from his personal demons that stay in the forefront of his mind and even stay at his shoulder in the form of the shade of Corporal Hamish MacLeod who is none to silent on his own front and acts as Rutledge's conscience but also his worst critic. It's usually all in a day (or an extended weekend's) work for our favourite charming Inspector who knows how to ask the right questions but what if those same inquiries are ones that can lead an innocent to the gallows or end with a marksman's crosshairs ready and centred. Well, that certainly changes things, doesn't it? For this reader, there is no finer continued story when I need a post-WWI fictional escape than this series and Legacy of the Dead (Inspector Ian Rutledge, #4) ranks high within my favourites of this collection of mysteries. I may be only on the fourth installment but I can't wait to sit down with the rest and follow the Inspector's travels. The duo writing team of mother and son that pen these mysteries excel at painting locations and yes I have a map saved and ready to be travelled when I finally get to go to the UK. The small towns and villages that actually exist are ones I would dearly love to see and perhaps while I'm there I could sit a spell at the bed and breakfasts and fantasize what happens in these cliffhanger tales as just like in the rest of the books, Legacy of the Dead abruptly ends at the height of the drama that has been building for chapters (some things are answered but there are still pesky strands that remain). In a way that doesn't bother me (the looping slow beginning was more frustrating) but I can see where that may annoy new readers. Still, this was one for my shelves and if you have been looking for a series you would hate to see brought to the small screen (because you know they will just muck it up and pour frustrating modern expectations all over these clever books) then take some time and get acquainted with or form your own opinion on Inspector Ian Rutledge. You may find he just strides into your thoughts and comfortably stays there for days after the final page. I don't know about you but that's all I could ask for.

It is a wonderful thing that by the internet one can get what one wants at a modest price. Previously specialist book sellers would have charged prices more than I would have been willing to pay.