10 Great Rebus Novels (John Rebus) (403 page)

If Rebus has a problem with notions of ‘pecking order’ and the idea of authority generally, what does it say about him that he chose careers in hierarchical institutions such as the Army and then the police?

How does Rebus relate to women: as lovers, flirtations, family members and colleagues?

Do the flashes of gallows humour as often shown by the pathologists but sometimes also in Rebus’s own comments increase or dissipate narrative tension? Does Rebus use black comedy for the same reasons the pathologists do?

Do Rebus’s personal vulnerabilities make him understanding of the frailties of others?

How does the characterisation of Rebus compare to other long-standing popular detectives from British authors such as Holmes, Poirot, Morse or Dalgleish? And are there more similarities or differences between them?

Ian Rankin is the internationally bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus and Detective Malcolm Fox novels, as well as a string of standalone thrillers. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages and are bestsellers on several continents. Ian is the recipient of four CWA Dagger Awards and in 2004 won America’s celebrated Edgar Award. He is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Hull and Edinburgh, and received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

The Inspector Rebus series

Knots and Crosses
Hide and Seek
Tooth and Nail
Strip Jack
The Black Book
Mortal Causes
Let It Bleed
Black and Blue
The Hanging Garden
Death Is Not The End (
novella
)
Dead Souls
Set in Darkness
The Falls
Resurrection Men
A Question of Blood
Fleshmarket Close
The Naming of the Dead
Exit Music
Standing in Another Man’s Grave

The Inspector Fox series

The Complaints
The Impossible Dead

Other novels

The Flood
Watchman
Westwind
Doors Open

Writing as Jack Harvey

Witch Hunt
Bleeding Hearts
Blood Hunt

Short stories

A Good Hanging and Other Stories
Beggars Banquet

Non-fiction

Rebus’s Scotland

Omnibus editions

Rebus: The Early Years (Knots and Crosses, Hide and Seek, Tooth and Nail)
Rebus: The St Leonard’s Years (Strip Jack, The Black Book, Mortal Causes)
Rebus: The Lost Years (Let It Bleed, Black and Blue, The Hanging Garden)
Rebus: Capital Crimes (Dead Souls, Set in Darkenss, The Falls)

All Ian Rankin’s titles are available on audio.
Also available:
Jackie Leven Said
by Ian Rankin and Jackie Leven.

An Orion ebook

Knots & Crosses
first published in Great Britain in 1987 by The Bodley Head
First published in Ebook in 2008 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1987
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

Hide & Seek
first published in Great Britain in 1990 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2008 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1990
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

Tooth & Nail
first published in Great Britain in 1992 by Century under the title
Wolfman
.
First published in Ebook in 2009 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1992
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

Strip Jack
first published in Great Britain in 1992 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2008 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1992
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

The Black Book
first published in Great Britain in 1993 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2008 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1993
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

Mortal Causes
first published in Great Britain in 1994 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2009 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1994
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

Let it Bleed
first published in Great Britain in 1995 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2008 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1995
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

Black and Blue
first published in Great Britain in 1997 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2008 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1997
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

The Hanging Garden
first published in Great Britain in 1998 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2008 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1998
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

Dead Souls
first published in Great Britain in 1999 by Orion Books
First published in Ebook in 2009 by Orion Books © John Rebus Limited 1999
Introduction © John Rebus Limited 2005

This ebook collection published in 2013 by Orion Books

The moral right of Ian Rankin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All the characters in these books are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 4091 5080 0

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