Bestselling author Ian Rankin has released the 24th installment of the popular Inspector Rebus series, A Heart Full of Headstones , which finds retired Inspector John Rebus accused of a major crime that may affect his future for the rest of his life. Inspector Siobhán Clarke, who considers Rebus her mentor, is in charge of several cases, including the disappearance of a police officer who may be a whistleblower against several retired and working police officers from an infamous department known for their corruption. Rebus is connected to the corruption and may be included in the corruption charges which date back to his days on the force.

The series is set in Scotland and the culture of the setting is a fun change. Rankin is a good storyteller, and this novel is easy to follow with plenty of surprises. Readers will wonder if their favorite Scottish protagonist is truly corrupt, and if his previous association with bent cops and crime lords will put him away. The main characters are well-developed; most readers will have read the previous novels in the series and will consider them old friends.

All told, this one isn’t Rankin’s best; the story isn’t as gripping as some of the previous novels in the series, but it is interesting and worth reading, especially for John Rebus aficionados and those who want to read thrillers with a bit of a different slant.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Ian Rankin's A Heart Full of Headstones is the 24th book in the Inspector Rebus series.
I usually enjoy Ian Rankin's writing and the Inspector Rebus series, but for some reason this installment failed to engage with me. It features an ensemble cast of characters, mystery, humor, characterization and character growth, but I found my mind wandering more often than not as the story progressed.
The description of the book reads, "John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. But what drove a good man to cross the line?" And I think because a lot of the story is done in flashbacks that this is probably where my interest waned. Once you know the 'end result" the rest is just filling in the blanks to get there, and this is something that I find I rarely ever enjoy.
There is a lot to recommend in the novel for fans of the series, and just because it wasn't my cuppa doesn't mean others won't have a different experience with the tale.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #Little,Brown&Company, and Ian Rankin for the ARC of #AHeartFullofHeadstones.

John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life..
But what drove a good man to cross the line? Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke may well find out.

I am a Rebus fan. I starting reading the books many years ago when I drifted into a book shop in England while traveling there on business. I was afraid there would be no more when he stopped being a cop. But, alas, he has never stopped being involved in the crime business. And this is a further continuation. When the book opens with him in court, you immediately begin to wonder what is going on. The story then unfolds with all the characters that we have grown to have a love hate relationship with throughout the series. Another good installment.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of the book. These comments are my own.

Saints and sinners and everything in between is what Ian Rankin brings to us in his newest work.
I enjoy a heart pounding thriller . "A Heart Full of Headstones" delivers with Inspector Rebus at the helm in the 24th of this popular series.
Rebus is standing trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for life?
Why would he risk crossing that fine blue line?
Detective Siobhan is asking the very same question. A misconduct case involving a cop gone rogue could be the reason. Finding the cop will expose more than a few superiors and mentors.
It begins with Stephanie Pelham who's facing divorce with her developer husband James.
Meanwhile, there's been a murder at the flat. A bizarre occurrence surfaced in which ther's a photo of the crime scene floating around involving Francis Haggard.
Money launderings, drugs, gangs, firebombs, and some shady dealings involving repayment of rent using a club doorman is on the books.
Inspector Rebus was asked to get to the bottom of it all while the Devil is resting on his shoulders.
The ironic concept is the ending in which Rebus faced some of his own legalities.
The other irony involves a man named Jack Oram who many believe was killed but for whom this case was born.
Would Jack ever be found?
Could Rebus solve such a complex situation of inner personal connections amongst our wide array of characters?
I love how this book rolled through every scenario while leading readers on a wild-goose chase.
Thank you to Ian Rankin, Little Brown and Company, Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Always five stars for Rebus and Ian Rankin. Looking forward to number 25 in this series because I can’t wait to find out what happens!

Fan of Ian Rankin's John Rebus will delight in this long awaited title from Little, Brown and Company. Readers will delight in the return of their favorite grumpy detective as he tackles his 'retirement years.'

Ian Rankin continues the John Rebus saga with A Heart Full of Headstones. Rebus is accused of murder and the novel starts with Rebus on trial, travels back to the twisting angles of the past in which dodgy relations with criminals and dubious policing and returns to the trial at the ending. None stop action in between. Keeps you awake and reading.

Rankin at his best. A unique detailed storyline. Compelling and wonderfully plotted. I couldn't put it down.

I didn't really love this one. I know there are so many prior books in this series (this one is #24) but I just could not for the life of me get into it, and I really wish I had.

I did however, really like that Rankin brought back so many of his other old characters, definitely gave me a nostalgia hit!

Ian Rankin's newest entry in his John Rebus Series is a compelling narrative of a crusty old-school former police detective in the throes of old age, struggling against the confines of aging while the internal burning drive for justice remains intact. Rebus's past is checkered, yet he balances that against the results he's achieved, the devotion of his daughter, granddaughter, and his beloved canine Brillo, and his own determination of the standards of justice. Edinburgh is not a lovely city economically, and where poverty runs rampant, crime reigns. When one criminal kingmaker is removed from the equation, the vacuum will soon surface another. The twists here are the revelations (multiple) of the identities of the new criminal "masterminds" and of the twisted psyches who strive to satisfy only their own desires at the expense of others' falls from grace and from life. I couldn't put the novel aside.

The book opens with John Rebus, a forcibly retired Scottish police officer, about to be tried for a crime. We don't know what the crime is, and won't until the book ends.

Big Ger Cafferty, for years Rebus' nemesis, is now in a wheelchair and wants Rebus to find the man he wronged years ago to make amends. DI Siobhan Clarke, a former colleague of Rebus', is investigating a policeman accused of domestic violence who is threatening to expose police corruption and has now gone missing.

It's been two years since Rebus' last adventure, and it was well worth the wait.

Published by Little, Brown and Company on October 18, 2022

John Rebus is one of the more interesting cops in crime fiction. He was never a dirty cop, but he had a bit of Dirty Harry in this approach to law enforcement. He played the game by his own rules. He used his fists to encourage confessions. He framed suspects for crimes they didn’t commit when he couldn’t prove their involvement in the crimes they did commit. No longer enforcing the law, Rebus still defies the rules when they get in the way of solving mysteries. Now there’s a risk that his history of defiant behavior will catch up to him.

Rebus always kept one foot in the underworld, the better to keep track of dirty deeds. He did not join “the Crew” at Tynesdale police station in their corrupt activities, but he once accepted a payment to introduce some bent cops to Big Ger Cafferty, Rebus’ primary underworld connection. Rebus never knew the purpose of the meeting. When he learns its purpose, he realizes the magnitude of his error.

Years later, Rebus is retired, the Crew is under investigation, and Cafferty is in a wheelchair. Cafferty hires Rebus to find Jack Oram. Popular opinion holds that Jack is dead, but Cafferty tells Rebus that he’s been sighted. Jack’s son Tommy is associated with a criminal who fronts his share of the local crime market from a bar. Rebus is always happy to carry an investigation into a bar. Rebus takes the job, not because he wants to help Cafferty but because he wants to learn what Cafferty is really trying to accomplish.

Readers can count on a Rebus novel to have an abundance of moving parts. Much of the plot revolves around Francis Haggard, a cop at Tynecastle station who has been abusing his wife Cheryl. Cheryl’s sister, Stephanie Pelham, is married to a developer who buys up land and develops expensive flats, including one that seems to be tied to both Haggard and Jack Oram. Haggard may want to rat out members of the Crew to save his own skin. It isn’t surprising that Haggard goes missing.

Cafferty is in a turf war with Fraser Mackenzie, who married Cafferty’s old flame Beth. The Mackenzies’ daughter DJs at a nightclub and might know more about crime than all the adults put together.

Ongoing subplots include Siobhan Clarke’s love/hate relationship with Rebus and Malcolm Fox’s determination to prove that Rebus broke the rules of policing. Rebus thinks of Fox as the Brown Nose Cowboy. Fox is no longer with Complaints (Police Scotland version of Internal Affairs) but he assumes Haggard’s murder is connected to bad deeds done by the crew.

Rebus is a character of satisfying complexity. Rebus cares about his daughter and is a good parent to his dog Brillo, making it clear that he has a good heart even if his mind is sometimes enveloped by dark clouds. He isn’t a tough guy (at least in his old age, when walking up a flight of stairs threatens his life). He nevertheless delivers a fair amount of snark while poking his nose in where it isn’t wanted. He occasionally suffers a broken nose for his trouble. His snooping is compulsive; if someone has a secret, Rebus wants to know it. Rebus eventually learns the truth about Jack and Tommy Oram, Haggard, the Pelhams, the Mackenzies, the Crew, the dirty bar owner, and the real reason he was hired by Cafferty.

The novel’s ending is surprising. While it isn’t quite a cliffhanger, the story leaves Rebus in a precarious position. It is a situation he brought on himself, but it is easy to feel sympathy for a guy who can barely breathe yet plods along anyway, a guy who is fed up with crime and with himself. “He’d spent his whole life in that world, a city perpetually dark, feeling increasingly weighed down, his heart full of headstones.”

This isn’t much of a review, but Rebus fans understand the importance of characterization to the series and the general sense of noir that pervades the books. I can only tell those fans that A Heart Full of Headstones meets the standard that the series has established. It is perhaps a bit darker than most and the ending is concerning, as it signals the possibility of a very dark period in Rebus’ declining years. That concern, of course, is reason enough for a fan to wait in agony until the next Rebus novel arrives.

RECOMMENDED

This is #24 in the Inspector John Rebus series; it is the second one I have read, having only recently discovered Ian Rankin’s Tartan noir works. Scotland is just coming out of Covid lockdown and the retired, ill Rebus is in jail on charges of murder. How did he get here and is this end of him? The actions leading up to this arrest expose the underbelly of the Edinburgh crime scene as well as police corruption.

Well written and fast moving, the plot is a bit complex and there are a lot of characters. It took a while for me to get them straight in my mind. I think it would have helped in understanding some of them had I read more than just one prior novel in the series.

Fans of Rankin’s John Rebus will enjoy this latest installment. For those just being introduced to it, you might want to go back and read some of the prior novels.

Take on dirty cop accused of wife beating who is planning on rolling over on his mates being murdered. Add in old enemies, retired cops, and mix into the stew John Rebus, Siobhan Clarke, and Malcom Fox working together and at each other to bring out the story of how John Rebus was in the docket for murder. Ian Rankin has managed to bring a nice bit of closure to Rebus's career in A Heart Full of Headstones. It makes a person want to go back to the beginning and read them again.

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title!

About a dozen pages in, I fully realized what I’ve been missing by not reading Ian Rankin until now. He is indeed an astonishingly good writer. Sadly, I can’t say how this Rebus novel stacks up against the past ones. All I can say is this one is so good that I intend to find out. And this time, sooner rather than later.

Rankin opens with a prologue that shouldn’t have been surprising given the blurb. Had I paid more attention to the summary, I might have realized what was going to happen. Or at least maybe happen. Instead, it shocked me a bit that the book began with Rebus in the dock in a courtroom on trial and facing prison. It shocked me a little initially since I knew he was a retired police detective. But, of course, the opening grabbed my attention and made me want to know more. Rankin then takes us back in time in the first chapter to the beginning of the story that plays out during the rest of the novel. From there, I couldn’t put the book down.

There are several related story lines, which make the plot complex, but the author expertly weaves them together in due time and it all makes sense. Rankin provides all the back-stories and histories we’ll need to understand the plot, jogging the memories of dedicated Rebus fans while adroitly bringing new readers like me up to speed. Even without ever reading another Rebus novel, I never felt lost. He also includes a spot-on rendering of the pandemic experience for both the individual characters and the country. The effects of the pandemic echo through the story, but always in subtle ways. This contributes to helping us feel the story is real life with all its randomness and difficulties.

I found John Rebus an intensely interesting character. By this time, he is a long since retired Edinburgh police detective inspector, but still prowls the grittiest sides of the city as a private detective. And now his past is coming back to haunt him. He is an utterly believable mixture of foibles and messy contours, a flawed, cynical former policeman, often gruff but with a wry sense of humor. He has a strong platonic friendship with his former colleague and protégé, Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke, another intriguing principal character in the book and series. And she is the driving force in the narrative as she leads the investigation into a case that eventually overlaps with a private inquiry Rebus takes on, which makes him a target of both some hardened criminals and his former police colleagues.

A Heart Full of Headstones is a dark, gritty, and engrossing tale that fans of crime thrillers will enjoy. I enjoyed it so much I’ve already purchased the first book in the John Rebus series so that I can start at the beginning with the Rebus character.

I was an avid reader of Ian Rankin's series with the Edinburgh detective John Rebus. Still, I somehow became distracted by the new and shiny mysteries that pop in the bookstores every week. Now I'm glad to see that Rebus is back and better than ever. It's such a classic, noir fiction, with sharp dialogs and exciting characters, that I envy those who haven't got a chance to read the series yet.

"A Heart Full of Headstones" begins with Rebus in court as the defendant, accused of a serious crime. The story is slowly revealed – it starts with Morris "Ger" Cafferty, an old crime boss and Rebus' antagonist hiring John to look for a man who might be dead. As explained to Rebus, Cafferty's intentions are good, and payment might come in handy as Rebus has retired. Well, retired or not, his brain is still sharp even if the body has weakened. Rebus' informal investigation intertwines with his previous work partner, now DI, Siobhan Clarke's work on a different case. Nobody seems completely innocent, especially the team at another police station that became a refuge for ruthless and misogynistic police officers. It looks like it's in someone's interest to have Rebus out of the picture forever.

The title of this book is taken from the lyrics of "Single Father," a song by Rankin's late friend, a Scottish musician Jackie Leven. Another Rankin's book title, "Standing in Another Man's Grave," is also based on a piece by Jackie Leven. I'm proud to say that the collection of Rankin's books stands next to my collection of Jackie Leven's songs, and I think they belong together.

This is a great crime novel, and I highly recommend it. Just get this book and follow Rebus's example. He "had walked Brillo, fed both dog and owner, and poured himself into the armchair in his living room alongside a second whisky. The hi-fi system was playing Jackie Leven at barely discernible volume." This should be a mystery novel reader's ideal evening.

Policing habits of Rebus questioned

Slowly the tension builds. The court opening had me puzzled. But then we go back and review the situation over the past weeks until now. Rebus has been contacted by Morris Gerald Cafferty, known as Big Ger. Cafferty calls in a favor. That favor has Rebus walking into the past, a past that strings from his time when he worked at Tynecastle. We are introduced to some old players and new, including DI Siobhan Clarke. Deceptively simple...Rebus walks his dog Brillo, wanders onto crime scenes, scopes out who’s doing what, puts things together, and comes up with answers.
An investigation into the policing culture at Tynecastle throws up some dirty linen from the past.
As to why he’s in court? Well that would be telling.
A somewhat quirky, dark and fascinating read.

A Little, Brown and Company ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin opens with John Rebus in the docks facing serious charges, It all started when Rebus was asked by his old nemesis Ger Cafferty to find a man who once stole from him, Rebus doubts the altruistic reasons Ger gives for wanting to find the man but his usual curiosity is piqued as well as his desire to know what Cafferty’s really up to. Besides it’s a good excuse to visit his old mates in the police including DI Siobhan Clarke who is dealing with her own difficult case involving a murder which may be tied to police corruption and, during which, Rebus’ name has popped up more than once..

This is the 24th Rebus novel by Ian Rankin and, like previous books in the series, it is well-written, well-plotted and smart with plenty of twists and turns. And, of course, like his previous books, there’s plenty of references to music including the title. The Rebus series has been one of my favourites over the years and A Heart Full of Headstones definitely doesn’t disappoint.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown & Company for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

I’ve been reading the Rebus series for years. A Heart Full of Headstones is a worthy entry into this reliable series. I especially appreciate that we readers have followed Rebus as he ages, rather than be stuck in time as so many series treat their main characters. In this volume we watch as the good police root out those who have been corrupted. The novel presents a realistic picture, one that devoted readers will devour.

I've been a huge Rebus fan for years, but this one felt contrived and tired. I was so disappointed. I did have an ARC so maybe the final version will redeem itself, but I'd rather have never read a John Rebus again than read this one.