A heart full of headstones by Ian Rankin

Opening with former Inspector Rebus in the dock, rather than in the witness box, shocks the readers eager to read the 24th in Ian Rankin’s series of books about crime and detection in Scotland. Hooked, Rankin takes the reader back, filling in the story of how Rebus ended up in remand. Certainly, a man to cut corners in his career, causing angst amongst his seniors, he was known for getting things done.  

Now retired he is at a loose end, Brillo the dog not completely filling his life. Rebus is asked by crime boss, Cafferty to find a person believed dead but seen in Edinburgh recently.  Rebus begins to investigate, finding he is stepping on the toes of the gaggle of detectives working at the Tynecastle Police Staton. This station has a reputation for brutality, misogyny and corruption and when one of their number, Francis Haggard, is arrested for domestic abuse, the ranks close in. He offers to disclose some of the workings of Tynecastle, naming names, in return for dropping the charges, but before he does this, he is found dead. Rebus’ investigations overlap as DI Siobhan Clarke discusses the Haggard case with him. Into the scene comes Malcolm Fox, charged with reducing the impact of that exposing the Tynecastle Police corruption, and what it may do to the reputation of Police Scotland.

This heady story weaves its way through the corruption of Tynecastle and what it did to young women police appointed to the station. Fox is keen to expose this but also subscribes to the idea that Rebus’s association with Tynecastle puts him in the firing line as well. The double layer of characters and families will stretch readers’ recollections as they delve more deeply into the story, but as with all of Rankin’s stories, many strands join up satisfactorily at the end, while some remain obstinately unresolved, keeping all readers alert to a myriad of possibilities, perpetrators and suspects. I listened to the story via Audible and will happily listen again.

Themes: Police (Scotland), Corruption, Police procedure, Murder, Drugs.

Fran Knight