A Rebus Novel

5 primary works • 27 total works

Even Dogs in the Wild

by Ian Rankin

Published 5 November 2015

Retirement doesn't suit John Rebus. He wasn't made for hobbies, holidays or home improvements. Being a cop is in his blood.

So when DI Siobhan Clarke asks for his help on a case, Rebus doesn't need long to consider his options.

Clarke's been investigating the death of a senior lawyer whose body was found along with a threatening note. On the other side of Edinburgh, Big Ger Cafferty - Rebus's long-time nemesis - has received an identical note and a bullet through his window.

Now it's up to Clarke and Rebus to connect the dots and stop a killer.

Even Dogs in the Wild brings back Ian Rankin's greatest characters in a story exploring the darkest corners of our instincts and desires.

Read by James Macpherson

(p) 2015 Orion Publishing Group

Rather Be the Devil

by Ian Rankin

Published 3 November 2016

Some cases never leave you.

For John Rebus, forty years may have passed, but the death of beautiful, promiscuous Maria Turquand still preys on his mind. Murdered in her hotel room on the night a famous rock star and his entourage were staying there, Maria's killer has never been found.

Meanwhile, the dark heart of Edinburgh remains up for grabs. A young pretender, Darryl Christie, may have staked his claim, but a vicious attack leaves him weakened and vulnerable, and an inquiry into a major money laundering scheme threatens his position. Has old-time crime boss Big Ger Cafferty really given up the ghost, or is he biding his time until Edinburgh is once more ripe for the picking?

In a tale of twisted power, deep-rooted corruption and bitter rivalries, Rather Be the Devil showcases Rankin and Rebus at their unstoppable best.

Resurrection Men

by Ian Rankin

Published 2 January 2002

Rebus is off the case - quite literally. A few days into a murder inquiry following the brutal death of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at his superior, DCS Gill Templer, and is sent into purdah. Which, in his case, means the Scottish Police College, sited on the edge of a village in central Scotland. Rebus has been sent there for 'retraining'. In other words, it's his Last Chance Saloon. He is not alone. At the college, he is put into a group of similar officers - people who have a problem with the very institution which houses them. They are given an old unsolved case to work on. It will hopefully teach them the merits of teamwork, while allowing professionals the chance to assess this unholy 'wild bunch'. But there are those in the team who have their own secrets - secrets not unconnected to the very case they've been given - and they'll stop at nothing to protect them. As if that wasn't enough, the Scottish Crime Squad have a favour to ask of Rebus. They think they've found someone who can deliver the inside info on the east coast's biggest gangster, 'Big Ger' Cafferty. All they need is a link-man, someone to act as go-between.They've decided on Rebus, whether he likes it or not.
Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, newly-promoted Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke must work the case of the murdered art dealer, a case which will take her closer to Cafferty and his world than she could ever have anticipated...

Saints of the Shadow Bible

by Ian Rankin

Published 7 November 2013

Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. A 30-year-old case is being reopened, and Rebus's team from back then is suspected of foul play. With Malcolm Fox as the investigating officer are the past and present about to collide in a shocking and murderous fashion? And does Rebus have anything to hide?

His colleagues back then called themselves 'the Saints', and swore a bond on something called 'the Shadow Bible'. But times have changed and the crimes of the past may not stay hidden much longer, especially with a referendum on Scottish independence just around the corner.

Who are the saints and who the sinners? And can the one ever become the other?

Features a bonus interview with Ian Rankin and James MacPherson

Read by James MacPherson. JAMES MACPHERSON played DCI Jardine in Taggart for sixteen years, and has acted on stage in plays as diverse as The Taming of the Shrew and ART by Yasmina Reza. He has presented a regular books programme for Radio Scotland - for which he has interviewed Ian Rankin. He won a Spoken Word Gold Award for his reading of Strip Jack, a Crimefest Audible UK Sounds of Crime Award for Doors Open and has narrated all the Ian Rankin Rebus books. James lives in Glasgow.

(p) 2013 Orion Publishing Group

In a House of Lies

by Ian Rankin

Published 4 October 2018

A cold case involving a missing private investigator threatens to unearth skeletons from Rebus's past in this "must-read" mystery (Tana French).

Former Detective John Rebus' retirement is disrupted once again when skeletal remains are identified as a private investigator who went missing over a decade earlier. The remains, found in a rusted car in the East Lothian woods, not far from Edinburgh, quickly turn into a cold case murder investigation. Rebus' old friend, Siobhan Clarke is assigned to the case, but neither of them could have predicted what buried secrets the investigation will uncover.

Rebus remembers the original case -- a shady land deal -- all too well. After the investigation stalled, the family of the missing man complained that there was a police cover-up. As Clarke and her team investigate the cold case murder, she soon learns a different side of her mentor, a side he would prefer to keep in the past.

A gripping story of corruption and consequences, this new novel demonstrates that Rankin and Rebus are still at the top of their game.

The Hanging Garden

by Ian Rankin

Published 19 January 1998

Inspector John Rebus of the Edinburgh police hunts for a World War II criminal, a Nazi officer who massacred an entire village in France. At the same time he has to bust a ring which is importing East European prostitutes.

Black and Blue

by Ian Rankin

Published 13 January 1997

The local constabulary is stretched to the limit by tragedies on and offshore and Rebus cannot afford to make one single mistake if he's to stay alive, nevermind solve any one of the several murder cases now consuming his every waking thought.

A Question of Blood

by Ian Rankin

Published 22 August 2003

Two seventeen-year-olds are killed by an ex-Army loner who has gone off the rails. As Detective Inspector John Rebus puts it, 'there's no mystery ...except the why'. But this question takes Rebus into the heart of a shattered community. Ex-Army himself, Rebus becomes fascinated by the killer, and finds he is not alone. Army investigators are on the scene, and won't be shaken off. The killer had friends and enemies to spare and left behind a legacy of secrets and lies. Rebus has more than his share of personal problems, too. He's fresh out of hospital, hands heavily bandaged, and he won't say how it happened. Could there be a connection with a house-fire and the unfortunate death of a petty criminal who had been harassing Rebus's colleague Siobhan Clarke? Rebus's bosses seem to think so ...

Rebus

by Ian Rankin

Published 21 October 1999

From bestselling Ian Rankin, winner of the 1997 CWA Macallan Gold Dagger for fiction for Black & Blue, come the early Inspector Rebus novels, gathered in one volume for the first time.

KNOTS & CROSSES: Two girls have been abducted and brutally murdered. Now a third is missing. Detective Sergeant John Rebus, his own young daughter spirited away south by his disenchanted wife, is one of the policemen hunting the killer. And then the messages begin to arrive: knotted string and matchstick crosses - taunting Rebus with pieces of a puzzle only he can solve ...

HIDE & SEEK: A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat. Just another addict, until Inspector Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurk behind the facade of the city familiar to tourists. And only Rebus seems to care about a death that looks more like murder every day, a death that appeals to the darkest corners of his mind.

TOOTH & NAIL: Drafted down to the Big Smoke thanks to a supposed expertise in the modus operandi of serial killers, Inspector Rebus is on the trail of a man who, due to his penchant for taking a bite from each of his victims, is known as the Wolfman. When Rebus is offered a profile of the Wolfman by an attractive lady psychologist, it seems too good an opportunity to turn down. But in finding an ally, he may have given his enemies an easy means of attack ...

Let it Bleed

by Ian Rankin

Published 21 August 1995

Struggling through another Edinburgh winter Rebus finds himself sucked into a web of intrigue that throws up more questions than answers. Was the Lord Provost's daughter kidnapped or just another runaway? Why is a city councillor shredding documents that should have been waste paper years ago? And why on earth is Rebus invited to a clay pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office's Permanent Secretary? Sucked into the machine that is modern Scotland, Rebus confronts the fact that some of his enemies may be beyond justice...

The Black Book

by Ian Rankin

Published 12 August 1993

When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of his colleague's notebook, Rebus must piece together the most complex and confusing of jigsaws. But not everyone wants the puzzle solved - perhaps not even Rebus himself ...

Hide and Seek

by Ian Rankin

Published 14 March 1991

A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat, spreadeagled, cross-like on the floor, between two burned-down candles, a five-pointed star daubed on the wall above. Just another dead addict - until John Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurks behind the facade of the Edinburgh familiar to tourists. Only Rebus seems to care about a death which looks more like a murder every day, about a seductive danger he can almost taste, appealing to the darkest corners of his mind ...

Knots and Crosses

by Ian Rankin

Published 19 March 1987

A crime story set in Edinburgh where a murderer is on the loose. The victims are young girls and Detective John Rebus is also being plagued by anonymous letters accompanied by pieces of knotted string and little matchstick crosses. To cap it all his wife has deserted him. Ian Rankin's first novel is entitled "The Flood".

Standing in Another Man's Grave

by Ian Rankin

Published 8 November 2012

A series of seemingly random disappearances - stretching back to the millennium.
A mother determined to find the truth.
A retired cop desperate to get his old life back...

It's been some time since Rebus was forced to retire, and he now works as a civilian in a cold-case unit. So when a long-dead case bursts back to life, he can't resist the opportunity to get his feet under the CID desk once more. But Rebus is as stubborn and anarchic as ever, and he quickly finds himself in deep with pretty much everyone, including DI Siobhan Clarke.

All Rebus wants to do is uncover the truth. The big question is: can he be the man he once was and still stay on the right side of the law?

Read by James Macpherson

The Falls

by Ian Rankin

Published 23 March 2001

A student has gone missing in Edinburgh - completely out of character. She's not just any student, though, but the daughter of extremely well-to-do and influential bankers. There's almost nothing to go on until Detective Inspector John Rebus gets an unmistakable gut feeling that there's more to this than just another runaway spaced out on unaccustomed freedom or worse. Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a toy coffin, found in the student's home village, and an Internet role-playing game. The ancient and the modern, brought together by uncomfortable circumstance and a curmudgeonly detective happier with long playing records than digital technology ...In this powerful novel, Rankin, who 'moves dialogue with the precision of a chess-master', (Irish Times) brings together past, present and future in a terrifying duel of good - in the persons of DI Rebus and DC Siobhan Clarke - and evil.

Fleshmarket Close

by Ian Rankin

Published 17 September 2004

An illegal immigrant is found murdered in an Edinburgh housing scheme: a racist attack, or something else? Rebus is drawn into the case, but has other problems: his old police station has closed, and his masters would rather he retire than stick around. As Rebus investigates, he must visit an asylum seekers' detention centre, deal with the sleazy Edinburgh underworld, and maybe even fall in love...Siobhan has problems of her own. A teenager has disappeared from home and Siobhan is drawn into helping the family, which means travelling too close towards the web of a convicted rapist. Then there are two skeletons - a woman and an infant -found buried beneath a concrete cellar floor in Fleshmarket Close. The scene begins to look like an elaborate stunt - but whose, and for what purpose? And how can it tie to the murder on the unforgiving housing-scheme known as Knoxland?

The Naming of the Dead

by Ian Rankin

Published 18 October 2006

It's now a crucial time for Rebus. His superiors are getting increasingly impatient with his erratic behaviour and his relationship with Siobhan becomes ever more complicated. And most worryingly of all, as Rebus grows older he is starting to feel closer to the criminals he fights than to the force he works for. Set against the backdrop of the explosive 2005 G8 summit this will be Ian's most hard-hitting novel yet. For amongst the hordes of protesters filling the streets, a serial killer lurks ...

Strip Jack

by Chris Nolan and Ian Rankin

Published 1 October 1992

Gregor Jack, MP, well-liked, young, married to the fiery Elizabeth - to the outside world a very public success story. But Jack's carefully nurtured career plans take a tumble after a 'mistake' during a police raid on a notorious Edinburgh brothel. Then Elizabeth disappears, a couple of bodies float into view where they shouldn't, and a lunatic speaks from his asylum...Initially Rebus is sympathetic to the MP's dilemma - who hasn't occasionally succumbed to temptation? - but with the disappearance of Jack's wife the glamour surrounding the popular young man begins to tarnish. Someone wants to strip Jack naked and Rebus wants to know why...

Mortal Causes

by Ian Rankin

Published 7 August 1995

The last people to die in Mary King's Close had been plague victims. But that was in the 1700s. Now a body has been discovered, brutally tortured and murdered in Edinburgh's buried city. Inspector John Rebus, ex-army, spots a paramilitary link. It is August in Edinburgh, the Festival is in full swing. No one wants to contemplate terrorism in the thronging city streets. Special Branch are interested, however, and Rebus finds himself seconded to an elite police unit with the mission of smashing whatever terrorist cell may exist. But the victim turns out to be a gangster's son, and the gangster wants revenge on his own terms.

Set in Darkness

by Ian Rankin

Published 17 February 2000

Edinburgh is about to become the home of the first Scottish parliament in nigh on 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 a third body. This victim is Roddy Grieve, a prospective MSP, 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...