A Heart Full of Headstones
1 journaler for this copy...
A new Ian Rankin book is always a cause for celebration. Even more exciting he's coming to Winnipeg to talk about it and my purchase of this book entitled me to two tickets to the event.
Ian Rankin came to Winnipeg on his book tour for this book. I doubt Winnipeg is a major market for his books but he's been here several times and I like to support authors who include us on their tours. So I bought the hardcover and went to the author event and then got him to sign it. So, this book will be staying in my personal collection.
John Rebus is getting old and so is his arch nemesis, Morris Gerald Cafferty. Rebus is maybe doing a little better than Cafferty because he can at least walk his dog whereas Cafferty is confined to a wheelchair. Despite being on opposite sides when Rebus was with the police and Cafferty headed up the largest crime syndicate in Edinburgh, the two keep in touch. So, when Rebus gets a text from Cafferty it's not an unusual occurrence. Cafferty wants to hire Rebus to look into whether a former colleague who disappeared some years ago is alive and back in town. It was always assumed that Cafferty had Jack Oram "disappeared" because he cheated Cafferty on some jobs. Cafferty swears that he didnt and that Oram took off before he could do anything. Cafferty tells Rebus that he wants to apologize to Oram because although Oram did skim money from him he did it because his brother had died of cancer and he wanted to help out the family. Rebus isn't convinced of Cafferty's benevolence but he undertakes to look for him and pass on a message. Rebus' former colleague, DI Siobhan Clarke, Is part of a major inquiry into the murder of another cop who was threatening to spill the beans about all the corruption at one police station. This cop initmated that John Rebus was on the take even though he was never part of this station. Hanging over the development of the plot is the knowledge that Rebus ends up in court for some crime. As hard as it is for fans of the curmudgeonly detective to believe, could it be that DI Rebus was actually a bad cop? It's only when the reader gets to the end of the book that the nature of the alleged crime is revealed and we are kept on tenterhooks about what happens to him.
And we'll have to keep waiting for a bit more because Rankin took a sabbatical year in 2023. It sounds like he had fun (see his website) and I can't begrudge him some time off but he's promised a new book for the fall of 2024 and I'll be looking for it.
John Rebus is getting old and so is his arch nemesis, Morris Gerald Cafferty. Rebus is maybe doing a little better than Cafferty because he can at least walk his dog whereas Cafferty is confined to a wheelchair. Despite being on opposite sides when Rebus was with the police and Cafferty headed up the largest crime syndicate in Edinburgh, the two keep in touch. So, when Rebus gets a text from Cafferty it's not an unusual occurrence. Cafferty wants to hire Rebus to look into whether a former colleague who disappeared some years ago is alive and back in town. It was always assumed that Cafferty had Jack Oram "disappeared" because he cheated Cafferty on some jobs. Cafferty swears that he didnt and that Oram took off before he could do anything. Cafferty tells Rebus that he wants to apologize to Oram because although Oram did skim money from him he did it because his brother had died of cancer and he wanted to help out the family. Rebus isn't convinced of Cafferty's benevolence but he undertakes to look for him and pass on a message. Rebus' former colleague, DI Siobhan Clarke, Is part of a major inquiry into the murder of another cop who was threatening to spill the beans about all the corruption at one police station. This cop initmated that John Rebus was on the take even though he was never part of this station. Hanging over the development of the plot is the knowledge that Rebus ends up in court for some crime. As hard as it is for fans of the curmudgeonly detective to believe, could it be that DI Rebus was actually a bad cop? It's only when the reader gets to the end of the book that the nature of the alleged crime is revealed and we are kept on tenterhooks about what happens to him.
And we'll have to keep waiting for a bit more because Rankin took a sabbatical year in 2023. It sounds like he had fun (see his website) and I can't begrudge him some time off but he's promised a new book for the fall of 2024 and I'll be looking for it.
