"...just as a wind-driven downpour swept over the headland and rattled against the picket fence like distant machine gun fire" (Charles Todd)

"Rutledge collected the papers on the table and added a good night. It was raining again, and he dashed to his car, reaching it and climbing inside just as a wind-driven downpour swept over the headland and rattled against the picket fence like distant machine gun fire."

SOURCE: "Wings of Fire" (Charles Todd)

Inspector Ian Rutledge is another in the long line of English detectives in the period between the wars. His constant "companion" is the voice of Hamish, a young Scot whom he unwillingly had to execute on the battlefield. The setting of this novel is that most English of counties: Cornwall.