This book started out far too slowly, but if you skim the first 90 pages, the rest of the story makes up for it well enough. In real life murder investigations hit dead ends and get stalled often enough that I suppose this book presents a realistic picture of murder investigations as they really are, but reading about the part where the investigators are stuck is not really very engaging, especially for nearly 100 pages. The investigators themselves are a bit dense, which allows the reader to feel terribly clever for figuring out who the murderer is by ~100pgs before the characters work it out, which is great for the reader's self esteem, but makes the last 100 pages less exciting as we wait for the investigators to catch up.
I like the historical elements that Rennie Airth puts into his murder mysteries, though, enough that I forgave the structural problems in this novel for the interesting perspective Airth provides on WW1 field court martials. The characters are believable and likable, however slow they are at working out murder suspects and scenarios, and the female characters in this novel are well balanced, not caricatures. ( )

This is the fourth book in the Inspector John Madden series, and its set about two years later than the last one. John is still retired and living in the country with his wife Helen. For those who haven't read the three other books in the series, please do so now. These mysteries are remarkable. Airth writes literary, awesomely plotted books, and my only complaint is that there aren't enough of them in this remarkable series. Madden served in the Great War and he manages to return to England like so many thousands and hundreds of thousands didn't. He is forever changed, but he comes back to his position as a DCI in Scotland Yard. So now a number of years later we see him at his country farm with Helen. His former Sergeant Billy Styles comes to visit him at home in the early fall of 1947. Billy tells John that there have been two execution-style killings - one in Scotland and one near London, both committed with the same gun. Billy tells John that a witness heard the second victim mention his name before he was shot. He asks John if he knows either victim. John can't, recall the people, but he tries to help Billy with the investigation, and the further they go into it, the more it looks like the murders are because of something that occurred in the Great War, and it was a shameful event that happened in France and one that John had been involved with. While they investigate, more bodies are found, and John and Billy with the help of a smart young WPC by the name of Lily Poole are in a race against time to try to figure out the motives behind the killings and stop the carnage. They are up against an extremely intelligent, ruthless and well-trained assassin. Gee whiz I wish there was more than one more book left in this wonderful series. Five is not nearly enough. ( )

This book started out far too slowly, but if you skim the first 90 pages, the rest of the story makes up for it well enough. In real life murder investigations hit dead ends and get stalled often enough that I suppose this book presents a realistic picture of murder investigations as they really are, but reading about the part where the investigators are stuck is not really very engaging, especially for nearly 100 pages. The investigators themselves are a bit dense, which allows the reader to feel terribly clever for figuring out who the murderer is by ~100pgs before the characters work it out, which is great for the reader's self esteem, but makes the last 100 pages less exciting as we wait for the investigators to catch up.
I like the historical elements that Rennie Airth puts into his murder mysteries, though, enough that I forgave the structural problems in this novel for the interesting perspective Airth provides on WW1 field court martials. The characters are believable and likable, however slow they are at working out murder suspects and scenarios, and the female characters in this novel are well balanced, not caricatures. ( )

This book is number 4 of a series. The stories contain the same characters over a span of time from WW 1 past WW 2. Although the stories are separated by years, each crime related back to the first world war. All of the books contain a lot of narrative. ( )

I received an Advanced Reading Copy courtesy of GoodReads Giveaways.

A fun mystery that blends with historical fictions to appeal to a wide audience. There's nothing bubbly here - the murders are seemingly random at first, particularly ruthless, and only feed to an intense ending.

Any lover of historical fiction and mysteries will enjoy this work. I haven't yet read the other Rennie Airth books of the 'Madden' series (although I now will), but I had no problems following along with the characters and plot. My only criticisms are that I felt the book to be slightly overwritten - the character descriptions and dialogue were quite thorough - and it does get off to something of a slow start. However, this writing style will appeal to many other readers, so don't let that discourage you.

Overall a fun book, and definitely encourages further reading of Airth's material. Great character development and plot. ( )