And so he did. Rebus returned as a retired cop who could not keep his nose out of ongoing homicide investigations. They tried to give him something else to do; here John, you are supposedly retired now, if you care to riffle through these stone cold cases, unsolved murders that happened long ago, well have at it!
Meanwhile Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke stayed busy solving crimes. Rebus was her mentor on the force and in retirement he’s eager to counsel her regardless of whether she wants him to. His constant meddling in her investigations can annoy her. He means well.
In the previous book, “A Heart Full of Headstones,” we got a shock when Rankin finally killed off ancient Edinburgh crime lord “Big Ger” Cafferty. Rebus was in the vicinity when his long-time nemesis expired. I spoke to Ian Rankin about it-he admitted he had actually considered making that story the final Rebus novel.
Readers were in an uproar again, how could he do it? We don’t know what happened next to Rebus? Well, as this latest book opens we get answers to that question. We discover John Rebus is in prison. He’s incarcerated because of what happened to Cafferty.
This former cop now locked inside alongside hardened criminals is not an ideal situation. Right away there’s a murder. A prisoner is killed. This becomes a daunting puzzle. He was found dead inside a locked cell. Fortunately Rebus is right there to investigate this variation on a classic “locked room” mystery.
Rankin explained he realized if the entire tale takes place in prison things could get claustrophobic so there’s a second mystery unfolding on the outside as Clarke tries to locate a missing teenager. And Malcolm Fox is still around being a pain in the rear as always.
Rebus gets his hands on a contraband cell phone and calls Malcolm Fox from his prison cell. Fox is perplexed at the unknown number ringing him. This is all fairly hilarious since Fox had spent years trying to get Rebus sent off to prison for his renegade style of policing.
This novel fulfilled Rankin’s contract. He plans to travel the world. He has no current concepts for another Rebus adventure. His devoted fans will be holding their collective breaths, praying this one isn’t the final encore from John Rebus.
You can hear my latest radio interview with Ian Rankin today (Sunday) at 10:30 am on WYSO (91.3FM).
Vick Mickunas of Yellow Springs interviews authors every Saturday at 7 a.m. and on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO-FM (91.3). For more information, visit www.wyso.org/programs/book-nook. Contact him at vick@vickmickunas.com.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
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