THE BEAT GOES ON

Ian Rankin. The BEAT GOES ON: THE COMPLETE REBUS SHORT STORIES. Orion, 2014.

I still love Rebus. I always enjoy short story collections. One or two of these were familiar from earlier editions. I especially enjoyed Rankin's essay at the end about the origins of Rebus which also includes a sort of "portrait of the writer as a young man" and the realization for the writer that the city itself is an important character.

WATCHMAN

Ian Rankin. WATCHMAN. Orion, 1988/2004.

A very early Rankin without Rebus. Miles Flint is a watchcman, a spy for MI5 whose main work is surveillance. He is pulled off a botched assignment, redirected to Belfast where he evades an ordered assassination, and returns to London then Edinburgh to root out the bad guys. Not as interesting a character as Rebus. Nor do I find spy capers very interesting. Without proper supervision, the worst of humanity seems to surface. An interesting picture of Great Britain during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

MORTAL CAUSES

Ian Rankin. MORTAL CAUSES: An Inspector Rebus Novel. Orion, 1994.

It's at least five years before the Good Friday Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland. Around the fringes of Edinburgh's Fringe Festival, sectarian criminals are stockpiling weapons in Scotland to arm for the anticipated civil war. Big Ger Cafferty has escaped from prison. Rebus is still living with Dr. Patience and still driving his old car. I still love Rebus.

SET IN DARKNESS

Ian Rankin. SET IN DARKNESS. Orion, 2000.

I still love Rebus. This older story is set around 1999 while the new parliament building is being constructed in Edinburgh. Big Ger has just been released from prison. Rebus is still drinking too much. The Farmer is cruising to retirement. 

Rather Be the Devil

Ian Rankin. Rather Be the Devil. Orion, 2016.

Rebus and Big Ger - they've still got it.

Black & Blue

Ian Rankin. Black & Blue. Orion, 1997.

I still love Rebus, and this is an earlier title I somehow missed. Bible John and Johnny Bible, in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Shetlands, Peterhead, and on the North Sea oil rigs. This is the cover of the secondhand paperback I found, but this is not the actor whose face I see when I read the novels. 

 And Rebus and Siobhan:

Even Dogs In the Wild

January 19, 2017
Ian Rankin. Even Dogs In the Wild. Orion, 2015. 

Thank you, Ian Rankin. I do love Rebus. 

The Impossible Dead

June 6, 2016

Ian Rankin's The Impossible Dead

I still love Rebus, and because of him, I will read anything Ian Rankin offers. This, the third I think with the Complaint's Malcolm Fox as protagonist, is about secrets from the past surfacing, and about the ethics of undercover work and of covering up.