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173rd out of 788 books
—
1,641 voters
Watchers Of Time (Inspector Ian Rutledge #5)
by
Charles Todd (Goodreads Author)
In his latest novel, bestselling author Charles Todd brings his classic mystery series to a new level of intensity and intrigue. The year is 1919, and Ian Rutledge is a fragile yet courageous former soldier searching for his place in a postwar world. Now a Scotland Yard investigator, Rutledge is called upon to probe a small-town murder — and discovers that it may be connec...more
Paperback, 421 pages
Published
July 30th 2002
by Bantam
(first published October 30th 2001)
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Another solid hit for this series. All the good things I love about Rutledge were here, including the ever-lasting angst and tormented conscience; yet, I think Todd stretched the improbable a bit too far in this one...not to the impossible, and it was well done, but still, so improbable and weird. And yet Rutledge solves it. Well, he IS a hero, after all.
I am becoming a wee bit disappointed in the author's propensity to end abruptly---right after the solve/arrest/reveal--pick your word. This sty...more
I am becoming a wee bit disappointed in the author's propensity to end abruptly---right after the solve/arrest/reveal--pick your word. This sty...more
Feb 21, 2010
KarenC
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to KarenC by:
ongoing series
My second selection in this series based on what was immediately available in my local library. Goodreads hooked me on this series after winning The Red Door in December. I enjoyed this quiet post-Great War mystery enough that I will eventually read the full series beginning with the first. A "quiet" English mystery that in the long run solves two murders instead of just one; little description of violence. When compared to modern detective novels there seems to be little "rough and ready" aggre
...more
Feb 09, 2013
Babs
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery,
mystery-historical
I'm truly enjoying this series. However, I really am getting annoyed with the author ending this book and the previous one abruptly (or so it seems to me), without tying up all the story lines. He even alludes to the open ending of the previous book in this one - but does he provide any more clarification or information? NO! Instead, this one also ends without tying everything up; but with far fewer lose ends than the previous book.
I know I'm one of those people that love mysteries because you...more
I know I'm one of those people that love mysteries because you...more
Enjoyed Watchers of Time the most of the five Ian Rutledge stories I've read so far. The setting is the small village of Osterley, East Anglian, near the city of Norfolk. Mr. Sims, Vicar of Holy Trinity and Fr. James the priest of St. Anne's. Rutledge, returning to work as an Inspector of Scotland Yard in October 1919 is sent out of London to the backwater village to "set the Bishop's mind at rest about a murdered priest". Rutledge's WWI backstory makes this far from a typical police procedural....more
Feb 25, 2013
Jina Howell-Forbes
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
British mystery lovers who like complex charaters and not too much about police procedures
Shelves:
british-historical-fiction
This is a typical Inspector Ian Rutledge story. There are multiple, seemingly unrelated, characters that you learn about in separate chapters at the beginning of the novel. As the story progresses the disparate characters slowly weave a tapestry of connections to one another. Every character eventually has a role to play, but it takes most of the book to figure out what the various roles are.
The books in this series are not fast-paced, danger-laced, shoot-'em ups. Neither are they are grizzly p...more
The books in this series are not fast-paced, danger-laced, shoot-'em ups. Neither are they are grizzly p...more
Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to investigate the murder of a Catholic priest. The local constabulary are convinced the priest surprised a burglar who made off with the funds from a charity bazaar. Father James is found by his housekeeper. Someone has bludgeoned him to death with the altar crucifix. His study is ransacked. As Charles Todd has done before, the author(s) have crafted a complicated plot. Rutledge continues to be a fascinating character, haunted by his experiences in World War One....more
It is difficult to write a review of this book without spoiling it. Suffice it to say we learn more of Inspector Rutledge's experiences in th Great War and his personal aftermath from it as he struggles to help a small village come to grips with the murder of their priest. There is a tie-in with an historical event , but that would be telling. Characterization of great and small persons continues flawless as does the emotional binding of the reader. The unbelievably complex twists of the plot ar...more
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It is interesting in this post CSI era to see the way crimes were solved before forensics was developed. Also interesting to see the impact that WWI had on the English. It surprised me that snipers were considered murderers at that time by the non-military population. They saved soldier's lives. However the fact that they fired from a hidden position offended the civilian mentality. The people at home could not conceive of the brutality of the trench warfare in France and could not understand th...more
Todd is good. Very, very good. He writes wonderful characters--solid, believable people (mostly alive, but not all). Some are admirable. Some are despicable. The Denver Post reviewer captured his detective, Ian Rutledge, quite well with the descriptor "tortured." He is. The war. Kirkus Reviews compares the persistence of Rutledge's ghost, Hamish, to that of Macbeth. While I'm not sure that Todd is Shakespeare, his ghost is one of his best characters. This is a great historical mystery series. Th...more
Before it was PTSD it was shell shock. A different name, but still a debilitating, harrowing phenomena for hundreds of thousands of soldiers across the years. Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is only one of the broken men who returned from the First World War emotionally shredded by his experience and further tortured by survivor's guilt. In an effort to regain some kind of normalcy, Inspector Rutledge returns to work...but is he ready? These mysteries are marvelously told stories, full of p...more
I just love this series of books! It's really well-done mystery AND historical fiction. The main character, Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard, is still recovering from PTSD in 1919 after his experiences in WW I. The detail in the setting (England) is so well-done that I truly feel like I've "escaped" when I'm reading this series. I really stink at determining the culprit, but I sure like the way the author, Charles Todd, sets up the mystery! Highly recommended, without reservation, to all...more
Watchers of Time is the 5th book in the Inspector Rutledge series, and so far, it's the best one I've read. Rutledge is called to investigate the death of a Catholic priest, ostensibly murdered during a house burglary. In fact, he uncovers a much more sinister plot. Charles Todd evokes a realistic post WWI atmosphere superbly, and weaves the local environment into the web of the story. Rutledge continues to wrestle with his demons, most notably Hamish, the voice in his head. This series is dark...more
This is one of my favorite Ian Rutledge mystery. Ian is at his best in this book. At one point in the book I thought that I had solved the mystery - but I only had part of it. Sadly, as with all of these books, there is that attractive woman that Ian would have hooked up with in a different time and place. There is also a sad scene where he sees the woman that he had loved before the War at the church were she is marrying someone else.
It’s the ending of these books that drives me crazy!! The boo...more
It’s the ending of these books that drives me crazy!! The boo...more
This took me a little while to get into.
A guy is dying, he is not Catholic - why does he ask for a priest, in addition to his vicar? Then the priest is murdered in his study. But the local police believe it was a burglary. And pick up a Strong Man. The bishop asks for someone from Scotland Yard to look in, our man Rutledge. He doesn't believe it was a burglary.
Rutledge subsequently finds out that the priest was obsessed with the sinking of the Titanic seven years before. And there is a survivo...more
A guy is dying, he is not Catholic - why does he ask for a priest, in addition to his vicar? Then the priest is murdered in his study. But the local police believe it was a burglary. And pick up a Strong Man. The bishop asks for someone from Scotland Yard to look in, our man Rutledge. He doesn't believe it was a burglary.
Rutledge subsequently finds out that the priest was obsessed with the sinking of the Titanic seven years before. And there is a survivo...more
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This book in the series reflects Inspector Rutledge's return to Scotland Yard only months after being released from the hospital. As in his other books, Todd manages to weave layers of plot, accurate accounts of post WWI England and insightful perceptions of the human spirit. The "Watchers of Time," inactuality Egyptian bas-relief of baboons, "who saw all all that men and gods did, witnesses - but without the power to condemn or judge" serve as a powerful metaphor to the novel's meaning.
the hero is a British WWI vet who suffers from PTSD and serves as a police detective. He is sent to investigate a murdered priest by his commander. By the way, the police officer talks to a ghost: a former soldier under his command whom he executed for failing to obey an order and just after that they were buried by earth disturbed by artillery fire.
Fifth in the series, and to my mind, one of the best ones so far (the fourth was also top notch...this series keeps getting better!). Wonderful sense of mood and tone evoked in the rural village setting of the Norfolk marshlands where most of the action takes place. The mystery, set in 1919, involves a faithful sexton of the village Church of England parish suddenly demanding not the Vicar, but a Catholic priest to come speak with him in private on his deathbed. That priest, much beloved by his...more
This is one of the earlier books in the series (2001) and very dark. None of the characters are particularly nice and Rutledge is recovering not only from shell shock after returning from WWI but from a serious wound suffered very recently in Scotland. A Catholic priest is murdered and Scotland Yard is asked to set the bishop's mind at rest that everything is being done by the local constabulary. The reason the priest has been murdered becomes an obsession with Rutledge a so often happens with t...more
One of the best of this series . . . the mystery is a good one and the setting (Norfolk marshes) is well described and interesting. The characters in the mystery were likeable (Father James, the Vicar, the hotel owner, etc.) Also, the social life and conditions of England right after WWI is pulled into the plot very well.
It was especially interesting to see the Titanic from the perspective of contemporaries of the disaster. Weaving that into another family plot in a small East Anglian town was cleverly done. Keeping the protagonist on his feet long past exhaustion was tiring even to read though--let the poor man get some rest already!
Todd, Charles – Watchers in Time – G+
As Herbert Baker (Anglican) is dying he insistently asks for a Catholic priest. When he goes to that great beyond he is sent off by both the vicar and the priest. This brings on speculations. Later the priest that questions Baker's sanity is himself dispatched. His dispatcher sets the scene to look like a simple robbery.
The local constable is content to pin the dead on an itinerant strongman (someone not local.) However as a courtesy, London has sent Inspecto...more
As Herbert Baker (Anglican) is dying he insistently asks for a Catholic priest. When he goes to that great beyond he is sent off by both the vicar and the priest. This brings on speculations. Later the priest that questions Baker's sanity is himself dispatched. His dispatcher sets the scene to look like a simple robbery.
The local constable is content to pin the dead on an itinerant strongman (someone not local.) However as a courtesy, London has sent Inspecto...more
I have been read Ian Rutledge novels for a couple of months. While these are a bit more complicated than some other mysteries, I find I am getting a little exhausted and ready for Ian to date, get a little more used to his demon and to heal a little. This novel was a bit more believable in plot.
Good sense of time and place and the shadow of WWI still holding men in its grip. Characters avoid and skirt the truth, making Inspector Rudledge's job difficult until it all comes to a boil. The clue that came out of the blue near the end didn't work for me, but I would read more in this series.
The things other complain about are the very things I enjoy about this series. Rutledge is tortured and sometimes bumbling about his personal mental health but with a spine of steel when it comes to the test. So glad that he has contact with his godfather and hope to see that developed further.
This is another strong and interesting entry to the series. It fails to wrap up the dangling strings of the 4th book (leaving that for further on, I'm guessing), but does present a nicely creepy mystery of its own. Good peripheral characters, as usual, and enough unexpected turns to satisfy.
Another in the great Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd. Scotland Yard Inspector Rutledge and his imaginary partner Hamish probe the violent murder of a priest. Well drawn characters ( sometimes too many), atmospheric locales, and a snappy plot that includes the sinking of the Titanic! These just keep getting better.
Jun 02, 2009
Relyn
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommended to Relyn by:
I liked the first book in this series
I really enjoyed the first book in this series. So, I gave this one a go. Nope. Not for me. This story didn't really seem any different from the first Ian Rutledge novel I read. Just different details. I ended up skimming pages to hurry up and get to the end. No surprises there, either.
As always, Todd writes a very good book. One of the things about his books is that there is very little room for skimming. The story is packed full of clues and hints so you don't want to miss anything. The end was a little disappointing to me. I thought this author has done better.
this is the fifth book in a series about Inspector Ian Rutledge but the first one I have read. It is well written, and enjoyable. It is about the time in England just after the first world war, a time I didn't know much about. I want to get the first book and read it. Maybe all of them.
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Charles Todd is the pen name used by a mother-and-son writing team, Caroline Todd and Charles Todd.
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