Set in Darkness Whs - Hardcover

Rankin, Ian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0304364312 ISBN 13: 9780304364312

Publisher: Orion, 2001

Synopsis

Edinburgh is about to become the home of the first Scottish parliament in 300 years. As political passions run high, DI John Rebus is charged with liaison, thanks to the new parliament being resident in Queensbury House, bang in the middle of his patch. But Queensbury House has its own, dark past.

Legend has it that a young man was roasted there on a spit by a madman. When the fireplace where the youth died is uncovered another more recent murder victim is found. Days later, in the gardens outside, there is another body and Rebus is under pressure to find instant answers.

As the case proceeds, the Inspector finds himself face to face with one of Edinburgh's most notorious criminals...

Read by James Macpherson

About this title

Review:

Two masked men abduct women on their way home from singles bars; a mummified corpse turns up bricked into a fireplace in one of devolved Scotland's new government buildings; a prospective New Labour candidate is battered to death; and Inspector Rebus's old antagonist Ger Cafferty is allowed home from prison to die of cancer...Ian Rankin's gloomy new crime novel has all the usual ingredients of his Rebus series--Rebus's drinking, his messy relationships with women and his inability to get on with his superiors and more ambitious equals are traits more usually associated with private eye novels than with police procedurals, but they help explain why a cop with Rebus's high clear-up rate has avoided promotion to a desk.

Everyone told him that this was a sign, that he was here because the chiefs at the Big House had plans for him. But Rebus knew better. He knew that his boss had put his name forward because he was hoping to keep Rebus out of trouble and out of his hair...And if--if--Rebus accepted without complaining and saw the assignment through, then maybe the Farmer would receive a chastened Rebus back into the fold.

The Edinburgh atmosphere--from the forced politeness of smart dinner parties to the hair-trigger violence of slum pubs--is as admirable as ever, and Rebus's capacity for working things out slowly in his own head remains as plausible as ever as a description of a particular kind of dogged intelligence. Like several books in this series, this is also an intelligent novel of the New Scots Politics--part of what makes Rebus both a successful investigator and doomed to offend the powerful is his unerring instinct for the scandalous and the corrupt. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"A beautifully written series"--"New York Times Book Review"
"A brilliant series"--"Entertainment Weekly"
"Crime fiction at its best"--"Washington Post Book World"

A beautifully written series "New York Times Book Review"

A brilliant series "Entertainment Weekly"

Crime fiction at its best "Washington Post Book World""

A beautifully written series New York Times Book Review

A brilliant series Entertainment Weekly

Crime fiction at its best Washington Post Book World

"

"A beautifully written series" --New York Times Book Review

"A brilliant series" --Entertainment Weekly

"Crime fiction at its best" --Washington Post Book World

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0304364312
• ISBN 13: 9780304364312
• Binding: Hardcover