A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin

Published by Little, Brown and Company on October 18, 2022

John Rebus is one of the more interesting cops in crime fiction. He was never a dirty cop, but he had a bit of Dirty Harry in this approach to law enforcement. He played the game by his own rules. He used his fists to encourage confessions. He framed suspects for crimes they didn’t commit when he couldn’t prove their involvement in the crimes they did commit. No longer enforcing the law, Rebus still defies the rules when they get in the way of solving mysteries. Now there’s a risk that his history of defiant behavior will catch up to him.

Rebus always kept one foot in the underworld, the better to keep track of dirty deeds. He did not join “the Crew” at Tynesdale police station in their corrupt activities, but he once accepted a payment to introduce some bent cops to Big Ger Cafferty, Rebus’ primary underworld connection. Rebus never knew the purpose of the meeting. When he learns its purpose, he realizes the magnitude of his error.

Years later, Rebus is retired, the Crew is under investigation, and Cafferty is in a wheelchair. Cafferty hires Rebus to find Jack Oram. Popular opinion holds that Jack is dead, but Cafferty tells Rebus that he’s been sighted. Jack’s son Tommy is associated with a criminal who fronts his share of the local crime market from a bar. Rebus is always happy to carry an investigation into a bar. Rebus takes the job, not because he wants to help Cafferty but because he wants to learn what Cafferty is really trying to accomplish.

Readers can count on a Rebus novel to have an abundance of moving parts. Much of the plot revolves around Francis Haggard, a cop at Tynecastle station who has been abusing his wife Cheryl. Cheryl’s sister, Stephanie Pelham, is married to a developer who buys up land and develops expensive flats, including one that seems to be tied to both Haggard and Jack Oram. Haggard may want to rat out members of the Crew to save his own skin. It isn’t surprising that Haggard goes missing.

Cafferty is in a turf war with Fraser Mackenzie, who married Cafferty’s old flame Beth. The Mackenzies’ daughter DJs at a nightclub and might know more about crime than all the adults put together.

Ongoing subplots include Siobhan Clarke’s love/hate relationship with Rebus and Malcolm Fox’s determination to prove that Rebus broke the rules of policing. Rebus thinks of Fox as the Brown Nose Cowboy. Fox is no longer with Complaints (Police Scotland version of Internal Affairs) but he assumes Haggard’s murder is connected to bad deeds done by the crew.

Rebus is a character of satisfying complexity. Rebus cares about his daughter and is a good parent to his dog Brillo, making it clear that he has a good heart even if his mind is sometimes enveloped by dark clouds. He isn’t a tough guy (at least in his old age, when walking up a flight of stairs threatens his life). He nevertheless delivers a fair amount of snark while poking his nose in where it isn’t wanted. He occasionally suffers a broken nose for his trouble. His snooping is compulsive; if someone has a secret, Rebus wants to know it. Rebus eventually learns the truth about Jack and Tommy Oram, Haggard, the Pelhams, the Mackenzies, the Crew, the dirty bar owner, and the real reason he was hired by Cafferty.

The novel’s ending is surprising. While it isn’t quite a cliffhanger, the story leaves Rebus in a precarious position. It is a situation he brought on himself, but it is easy to feel sympathy for a guy who can barely breathe yet plods along anyway, a guy who is fed up with crime and with himself. “He’d spent his whole life in that world, a city perpetually dark, feeling increasingly weighed down, his heart full of headstones.”

This isn’t much of a review, but Rebus fans understand the importance of characterization to the series and the general sense of noir that pervades the books. I can only tell those fans that A Heart Full of Headstones meets the standard that the series has established. It is perhaps a bit darker than most and the ending is concerning, as it signals the possibility of a very dark period in Rebus’ declining years. That concern, of course, is reason enough for a fan to wait in agony until the next Rebus novel arrives.

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A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin

Published by Little, Brown and Company on October 13, 2020

The venerable John Rebus has a pulmonary disease that impairs his ability to climb stairs, but he isn’t letting retirement or disability stop him from solving crimes. In A Song for the Dark Times, his daughter Samantha is under suspicion for murdering her ex-lover. Some of the drama comes from Samantha’s fear that Rebus, who was never the best of fathers, suspects she’s guilty but is trying to protect her anyway. That fear might be legitimate, but regardless of his motivation, Rebus encourages the police to keep an open mind rather than pinning the murder on the most obvious suspect.

The murder victim is Keith Grant. He is the father of Samantha’s child and was her partner before she began a fling with Jess Hawkins, who is associated with a group that some describe as a New Age cult. Grant had been investigating the history of Camp 1033, one of several internment camps in Scotland that were used during World War II to house and abuse people born outside of the UK. Since Grant’s laptop was stolen (but not his wallet), Rebus wonders if the questions Grant asked about a long-ago death at the camp might be connected to his murder. Alternatively, he wonders if it might be connected to the cult or to the land that the cult and nearby camp occupy.

Meanwhile, Siobhan Clarke is trying to solve the murder of Salman bin Mahmoud. whose father “is worth squillions but thought to be under house arrest somewhere in Saudi Arabia.” Salman has been splashing his money around and emulating his hero, James Bond, in an effort to attract women. Salman’s involvement in a shady investment scheme might have something to do with his demise. The two murder investigations, as is usually true in thrillers with multiple killings, might be linked, but whether and how that could be true is for the reader to ponder.

A subplot involves ACC Jennifer Lyons, whose career with Police Scotland might be jeopardized by photographic evidence that her husband is cheating on her. The criminal who has those photos, Morris “Big Ger” Cafferty, contacts Malcolm Fox to act as an intermediary with Lyons regarding a proposition that might be regarded as blackmail.

Ian Rankin keeps the various plots in motion with his usual flair. He brings a number of supporting characters to the table, ranging from families of Germans who were held captive in Camp 1033 to a bar owner and locals who reside near the camp, from aristocrats doing business with Salman to police officers who butt heads with Rebus as he intrudes on their investigation. Rankin gives each character a unique and believable personality.

Rebus has always been portrayed as a character with a strong sense of justice — as he defines it — and an inability to play by the rules if the rules get in his way. The risk that Rebus will frame an innocent person to save his daughter lurks in the novel’s background, adding another spot of darkness to his blemished character.

The overlapping plots are complex but Rankin’s internal summaries keep the details fresh in the reader’s mind. While the solutions to the two murders are less than obvious, Rankin doesn’t strain credibility to produce surprising resolutions. Each plot thread is convincing, while the story as a whole is reasonably suspenseful. In short, A Song for the Dark Times delivers exactly the kind of murder mystery and strong characterizations that fans of Rankin’s twenty-something Rebus novels have come to expect.

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In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin

First published in the UK in 2018; published by Little, Brown and Company on December 31, 2018

A dead body in the trunk of a car, ankles handcuffed together, brings John Rebus out of retirement (again). In 2006, he investigated the disappearance of private investigator Stuart Bloom. Rebus and the other assigned police detectives caught quite a bit of flack for botching the investigation. The dead body that has just been discovered is Bloom’s. Siobhan Clarke is assigned to the team that investigates Bloom’s death. Malcolm Fox is assigned to examine the adequacy of the original investigation.

Ian Rankin offers a full plate of suspects. Two business rivals, one of whom hired Bloom to investigate the other, are primary suspects. Bloom’s lover was the son of a Glasgow police detective. The lover and his father are both suspects. And then there are some gangsters and some people who hung out at a gay club and an overlapping group of people who were part of the local movie industry, Bloom having appeared as an extra in a low-budget horror film before he disappeared.

A couple of cops who investigated Bloom’s disappearance later investigated unfounded complaints against Clarke. One of those cops was employed after hours by one of the business rivals. Their presence contributes to personality clashes and increases the number of suspects who might have done in Bloom.

A subplot involves nuisance calls to Clarke that she assumes are related to a case that she recently closed. Rebus begins nosing into a closed murder investigation as a result of those calls. What he finds leads to a challenging question — when is justice best served by allowing the truth about a crime to remain concealed?

Rebus is interesting because, when he was still on the force, his approach to law enforcement was unorthodox. He got results, but by modern standards, his habit of trading favors with criminals and of protecting his friends is considered bad form. Of course, the true bad guys in this story (apart from the person who killed Bloom) are the dirty cops who hypocritically investigate other cops while covering up their own transgressions. They make Rebus look good by comparison.

The plot is intricate, as a Rankin fan would expect. Everything ties together by the end in ways that make sense. That’s become uncommon in the modern world of crime novels. Rankin also avoids chase scenes and preposterous coincidences and the other pitfalls that mar most of today's thrillers. His technique is to create a mystery and allow the characters he has crafted so carefully over the years to go about their business. Each novel adds a bit of character development (this one suggests the possibility of a romance between Fox and Tess Leighton) while allowing the reader to enjoy the interaction of characters who remain fond of each other, no matter how infuriated at each other they might become.

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Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin

First published in the UK in 2016; published by Little, Brown and Company on January 31, 2017

Having taken an unwanted pension, Rebus is contemplating the unhealthy results of a life spent smoking, drinking beer, and brooding over unsolved crimes. Not one to let a bit of lung cancer get him down, Rebus begins to nose around after learning from Siobhan Clarke that gangster Darryl Christie has been roughed up. A rival gangster is also interested in learning who attacked Christie.

Darryl Christie and Joe Stark are suspected of doing away with a rogue cop who nearly did away with Malcolm Fox when he was still with Professional Standards. Now Fox is a Detective Inspector in Major Crimes whose first assignment is to learn what he can about Christie’s beating without stepping on the toes of DI Clarke, who is heading the investigation in Edinburgh.

All of this leads Rebus to look into a closed case involving the death of Maria Turquand. Bruce Collier, lead singer for a popular band in the 1970s, was among the persons questioned, but one of Maria’s lovers was deemed the most likely suspect (her wealthy banker husband having been ruled out by virtue of an alibi). There are, of course, several other suspects, given the number of people associated with a band and the fact that Maria was killed in the hotel where the band was staying.

The cold case had last been reviewed by DI Robert Chatham. The review was prompted by a writer who specialized in books about unsolved crimes. They both become important characters who contribute to a subplot in addition to the main story.

The story branches off to encompass a Ukranian gangster, an assortment of British gangsters, Fox’s gambling-addicted sister, money laundering, and an assortment of beatings, killings, and snitchings. The plot is complex but not confusing (although it does tax the memory and might require a bit of note-taking to keep track of all the suspects). As a Rankin fan would expect, the plot resolution is clever.

Occasional references to folk and rock musicians from the UK had me drifting to YouTube to get a sense of the music that surrounds the story. Some of it isn’t bad. Rebus particularly likes Rory Gallagher, whose “concept album” Kickback City includes -- surprise, surprise -- a contribution by Ian Rankin. No surprise, then, that Rebus plays Kickback City on his car stereo.

As always, unexpected bits of humor enliven the novel, usually in the form of dialog. Characterization and plotting are always strengths in a Rankin novel. Rather Be the Devil is no exception. It’s a solid entry in a dependable series.

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Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin

Published by Little, Brown and Company on January 14, 2014

John Rebus is a traditional old school cop, the kind often admired by fans of police procedurals ... so admired, in fact, that Saints of the Shadow Bible is the nineteenth Rebus novel. Rebus drinks too much, he's no good at relationships and even less good at following orders or respecting the chain of command, but his instincts for crime are sound and he's a relentless investigator. When he manages to remain employed, he solves crimes. Rebus is employed in Saints of the Shadow Bible, although his role as Detective Sergeant is a step down from the Detective Inspector position he once held -- and his ability to retain his warrant card until the end of the novel is once again called into question.

Jessica Traynor's one-car accident hardly seems to merit the attention of DI Siobhan Clarke and DS Rebus, but Jessica's father is well-connected. A routine inspection of the scene raises doubt that Jessica was driving when her car left the road. Jessica doesn't want to talk about it but Rebus and Clarke soon focus their attention on her boyfriend, Forbes McCuskey, whose father happens to be Justice Minister. Complications ensue.

The novel's title comes from Rebus' days at Summerhall, where he started as a Detective Constable. All Summerhall detectives belonged to the Saints of the Shadow Bible. The Saints were less than saintly when it came to police work. One of their cases involved a murder suspect who beat the rap, perhaps because he was a police informant. Thirty years later, Scotland having loosened its protection against double jeopardy, the Solicitor General plans to revive the case, which means investigating the surviving Saints. Nick Fox, an interesting character who is charged with that task, initially meets with the usual derision earned by cops who police cops but eventually turns into a central (and quite likable) character. Fox appeared in a couple of his own novels before Ian Rankin added him to the cast of the previous Rebus novel.

All of this takes place against a political background in which characters line up as favoring Scotland's independence or opposing its separation from the UK. One of the prominent political players is a former Saint of the Shadow Bible and has a great deal to lose if the new investigation reveals anything untoward about his conduct. The political conflict adds an interesting dimension to the novel.

Rebus has a pleasantly gruff and abrasive personality that has attracted a loyal readership. Rankin walks a fine line between creating a mean-spirited (and thus unlikable) character and one who is merely acerbic and sarcastic (and thus funny). The ultimate mystery (who committed the 30-year-old murder?) requires the unraveling of several other mysteries. Rankin juggles a number of plot threads but never drops any of them. None of the resolutions are particularly surprising but they don't need to be. The story is satisfying and following Rebus through the course of an investigation is always an enjoyable stroll.

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