This is another one of the two huge volumes I received as a gift from an English friend – it’s obvious that Ian Rankin doesn’t fancy short novels. Inspector Rebus never investigates one case at a time – he has to have several, and his friend DS Clarke (Siobhan) usually works on a few more thus making things more interesting. This time Rebus is in charge of the murder of a Turkish immigrant – at first glance it looks like a common racist attack – locals going for an unwanted newcomer “taking their jobs” or whatever – but Rebus suspects there’s more to this murder than meets the eye.
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My road to discovering Ian Rankin wasn’t a short one. Having received two of his novels as a gift from an English friend more than a year ago, I hesitated until recently, the unusual thickness of the volumes putting me off. Then I went through my collection again and found the third book by the same author – a collection of short stories named “A Good Hanging”. I put all three books together on the shelf – and this holiday season decided to try them finally, since all my fellow detective story lovers seemed to regard Ian Rankin as one of the masters of the genre.
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