Rebus - in small doses! (A Good Hanging - Ian Rankin)

Member Name: martin24

Product:	A Good Hanging - Ian Rankin
Date:	11/01/08 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: really good little stories to fill the gaps inbetween the novels

Disadvantages: they're too short!!!

This is a collection of short stories, featuring Ian Rankin's most famous Detective, Inspector John Rebus. As a follow on from my review of Rankin's 14th Rebus novel, A Question of Blood, I have just read A Good Hanging (and other stories) written by Rankin in 1992, just five years after the first Rebus book.

_Ian Rankin_

Born in the Kingdom of Fife (the same as Rebus), in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh and has since been employed as a grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist and punk musician. His first Rebus novel, _Knots & Crosses_, was published in 1987 and the Rebus books have now been translated into 26 languages. Here is a list of his achievements:
* Hawthornden Fellow
* 1997 CWA Macallan Gold Dagger - _Black & Blue_
* 2004 - Edgar Award (USA) for Best Novel - _Resurrection Men_
* 2005 - BBA Best Crime Thriller - _Fleshmarket Close_
* 2002 OBE for services to literature
* 1999 Honorary Doctorate from Abertay, Dundee
* 2001 Honorary Doctorate from St. Andrews
* 2003 Honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh
* 2005 Honorary Doctorate from the Open University
* _Black & Blue_, _The Hanging Garden_, _Dead Souls_ and _Mortal Causes_ have been televised with John Hannah starring as Rebus
* _The Falls, Fleshmarket Close, The Black Book, A Question of Blood, Strip Jack, Let it Bleed, Resurrection Men, The Naming of the Dead_ and _Knots & Crosses_ have been televised with Ken Stott starring as Rebus.

_For those of you who have no knowledge of the John Rebus series by Ian Rankin, here is a brief history._

Ian Rankin thought up the idea of John Rebus whilst at university in 1985. Rebus himself was born in 1947 in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. He had a troubled childhood with his mum dying young, and joined the army after leaving school. After years touring with the army in Northern Ireland, Rebus decided to try out for the SAS, but the mental side of the training ruined his soldiers mind and was offered a route out with the Lothian and Borders police.

This is where the series of books picks Rebus up, and during the early books he still ahs contact with his wife and daughter. However as the series plays on, Rebus becomes a loner who is interested in only one thing - his work. Rankin often introduces characters into the series who could become Rebus' genuine friends, only for them to be killed or disappear from his life in some way - adding to his collection of 'ghosts'.

=== A Good Hanging ===

As already mentioned, this is a collection of short stories written by Ian Rankin in 1992, in the midst of the early years of John Rebus, around the time he made the step up from DS to DI. For this reason, the book features characters from the early Rebus books, who do not make it to the later books such as his colleague and friend, DC Brian Holmes, and the DSI Frank 'Fort' Lauderdale. Brian unfortunately died in _The Black Book_, adding to Rebus' collection of ghosts. For an avid Rebus fan such as myself, it is fascinating to look deeper in the world of the troubled Inspector, as the stories in the short story books are the 'real' cases, the smaller ones in-between the main novels.

There are 12 stories in this book in total, written in seemingly chronological order as in some of them it refers to events in previous stories, as is the case in many of the main novels.

_Playback_

The perfect murder - or so it seems. A woman has seemingly called in to Lothian and Borders police admitting killing her husband, but when they get there she pleads innocence. She is about to be charged, until Rebus steps in. . . .

_The Dean Curse_

A retired army Major's car blows up with him seeming to be the target of a terrorist bomb. Rebus, having experience of Northern Ireland, is the man to look into the case. . .

_Being Frank_

One of the shorter stories, in the book, Rebus meets up with one of his many 'contacts' on a park bench to solve some petty crimes. . .

_Concrete Evidence_

When a body is found under a cellar floor, Rebus does some digging, but not just literally. He discovers that there was more to a business deal in the 60's than meets the eye. . .

_Seeing Things_

In an Edinburgh park some schoolgirls claim to have Jesus. Rebus soon discovers that the apparition was less holy than first thought. . .

_A Good Hanging_

During the Edinburgh Festival a dress rehearsal goes wrong, or so it seems until DI Rebus steps in. . . .

_Tit for Tat_

A man is in hospital with burns after somebody put a petrol bomb through his front door. Meanwhile, Rebus discovers that the man liked bird watching, and not always the bearded tit variety. . .

_Not Provan_

When a suspect that Rebus thought was certain to go down gets off Scotch free, he has to find a way to prove that he was indeed guilty. . .

_Sunday_

Not encountering any crime, just a day in the life of Inspector John Rebus.

_Auld Lang Syne_

New Years Eve, and Rebus is on the lookout for a drugs deal that's supposed to be going down. When he meets up with an old adversary, Rebus is made to look stupid. . .
_The Gentlemen's Club_

The suicide of a girl seems to be an unfortunate accident, that is until Rebus does some investigation into the girl and her best friend's Tuesday afternoon activities. . .

_Monstrous Trumpet_

Even with a French constable on a day trip who unfortunately for Rebus is called Cluzeau, and 15 angry women to contend with, Rebus manages to solve the mystery of a missing sculpture. . .

=== What the Critics Say ===

'Britain's finest detective novelist' _Scotland on Sunday_

'[Rebus] is a superbly drawn character; matched by the edgy authenticity of the Scottish locale and dialogue' _Sunday Times_

'Very ambitious and very confident with acute observation of the not so bonny side of Scotland' _Daily Telegraph_

=== Recommended? ===

Without a doubt, I would recommend any fan of this genre to read it. And because of the nature of the book, being short stories rather than a novel fitting into a greater series, it can be read at any time, be it you have never read a Rebus book before, you are halfway through the series or have read them all (indeed, for me, it was nice to be reminded of some of the earlier characters).

=== Availability ===

Despite being published for the first time over 15 years ago, and being republished in 1998, it has not been republished again since. It is still available from the below selected retailers:
* www.play.com - £5.49
* www.amazon.co.uk - £4.19
* www.waterstones.com - £5.19

Thanks for reading

_www.ianrankin.net_
_www.rebusonline.net_

Summary: well written, great for Rebus fans