A Song for the Dark Times
An Inspector Rebus Novel

As this twenty third book in the series opens Rebus is moving house. Well strictly speaking he’s still in the same building but moving down from his upper floor flat to the ground floor. He’s suffering from COPD, a chronic disease that obstructs the flow of air to his lungs. That means no ciggies an......more

Following a diagnosis of COPD Rebus and Brillo the dog are moving ..... into a smaller garden flat downstairs from where he’s lived for years! DI Siobhan Clarke has a new lover, DCI Graham Sutherland. Clarke, Sutherland and DI Malcolm Fox from Major Crimes investigate the apparently motiveless murde......more

Ian Rankin's novels featuring Scottish Detective Inspector John Rebus have long been one of the best crime series going. Sadly, at least to my mind, Rankin decided early on to let the character age in real time, which means that, after over thirty years, Rebus is now retired and not aging well. Afte......more

My second Rebus in his retirement with COPD. But I didn’t find it as good as the last or certainly as good as Rebus when he was in his prime. The Author mentions at the end that the book was written during lockdown. I suspect that the authors inability to frequent the Oxford Bar in Edinburgh may hav......more

This is the least successful Rebus for a long time. The highlight is the superbly crafted prologue. The writing throughout is crisp and the story rattles along. The dialogue and the interplay between Rebus, Shiv and Fox are as good as ever. The real problem is the plot which peters out about three q......more