Watchers of Time

By: Charles Todd

Narrated by: Samuel Gillies

Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

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 post-war world. Now a Scotland Yard detective, Rutledge is called upon to probe a murder in the small Norfolk town of Osterley - but he soon discovers that the crime may be connected to one of the greatest disasters of all time…

©2001 Charles Todd (P)2002 W. F. Howes

Pretty Good

A nice travel back in time. Rutledge continues to be an interesting character. There were some bits that seemed too far fetched but still a good read. Excellent narration.

Don't like narrator for earlier books in series

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this series, however, would suggest the listener start at the beginning of the series. I started at the end and worked my way back. When I got to this narrator I was not willing to listen. The latter books had been performed by Simon Prebble but this narrator's performance was ...well, just frustrating to listen to. It seemed choppy and the narration interfered with the story. However, if I had started listening to this narrator in the beginning and then moved on to Prebble, I would not have had a better narrator to compare this one too. Of course, it is very probably I would not have moved forward to enjoy the rest of the series.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have changed nothing about the story.

How could the performance have been better?

I don't often complain about a narrator, and I feel I might be unfair in my complaints here. However, if the narration had been slower in places, not as 'excited' or 'animated' in others it would have helped with the flow.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes!

Any additional comments?

I love this series and am forcing myself to go on with this book. I may yet abandon it. I have over 400 books in my library and have abandoned only two others -- neither because of the narrator.

Terrific mystery

Excellent plot, well-crafted characters, lots of twists and turns. I enjoy this series and found this particular book one of the best.

Narrator is awful.

Good story but narrator is awful. Too bad for the listener as this series turned out to be great.

Wonderfully unpredictable

It is always interesting to watch the part that Hamish plays. Another wonderful set of conflicts

historical inaccuracy

Where does Watchers of Time rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I like the character in this series who deals with his own demons from WW I as he tries to solve crimes in post war Britain.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending leaves the story hanging. Think the ending could have been fleshed out

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The story repeatedly refers to the bodies from the Titanic being buried in Ireland whereas those bodies are in three cemeteries in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The author has confused the Titanic with RMS Lusitania whose victims are buried in mass graves in County Cork,Ireland.

That major error spoiled the book for me!

Great series - endings not so great!

I have listened to all but the last book in this series and find the various mysteries in them among the most intriguing of any detective books I've read (and I've read hundreds). I just finished listening to this one for the second time - the first time was a couple of years ago and I did not remember how it worked out. There are two main mysteries - why one woman hated the priest who was murdered, and what the dead priest's involvement with another women was. Oh, and what a dying man who wasn't Catholic confessed to the priest not long before the murder.

As usual with these books I was hooked in from the very start and could hardly bring myself to stop listening to do anything else. All the questions are answered in the end, but as the end approached things started happening so fast it was hard to keep up. Then once all the secrets were revealed the book ended so abruptly I had to rewind to see if I'd missed something. I hadn't. The book just ended. Sometimes I think these mystery writers get so tired of writing the books they just wind them up as quickly as they can when they get to that point.

As usual the narration was brilliant. I really prefer Samuel Gillies to Simon Prebble although Mr. Prebble is faultless. Samuel Gillies has a more dramatic reading style I really enjoy.

I am listening to the whole series a second time before I go on to the last one, which I have already purchased.

I highly recommend this book. Yes I was a little disappointed in the ending, but if you're a mystery fan you have probably learned the resolution of the mystery is rarely as satisfying as the rest of the story.

Personal preference for more descriptive endings

Prefer endings of later books in the series - both this and the previous book. I just like complete endings instead of where you're left to know the ending on your own, even though it's obvious. (btw, the previous book in this series was the best of the 15 rutledge books I've listened to!)

Flipping a coin on the stars.

I am wavering between 3 and 4 stars on the story and ultimately decided to be generous.
I like this series and I like Rutledge and Hamish.

I liked this book more than I disliked it, but there were issues aplenty. First, this is the second book in a row that just ended. No denouement, no reactions by the characters, just reveal the killer(s) and let the reader assume what happens. It worked slightly better in this book than the last, but it is getting old.

Secondly, there is an historical inaccuracy that bugged me because it was SO easy to check and showed laziness on writers and editors. The victims of the Titanic were not buried in Ireland, they were buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Thirdly, there was (to me, anyway) a serious plot hole regarding the mental state of one of the victims. I won't elaborate since it would be spoiler-ish, but it did reduce my enjoyment of this installment quite a bit.

All in all, I will keep up with the series. I am just not the biggest fan of this one.

Love the psychology but a little slow

The story gets “complicated” & not much “happens” but Rutledge & Hamish are such interesting characters you keep listening.