Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin
Standing in Another Man’s Grave is the 18th Rebus novel by Ian Rankin, published in 2012. Recently, I’ve been getting back into my Rebus novels, after seeing Ian Rankin at the Cheltenham Literature Festival last year. I read the first six Rebus books a few years ago. In the last few months, I’ve read the two most recent – A Song for the Dark Times and A Heart Full of Headstones, as well as Rankin’s own favourite, Black and Blue.
In Standing in Another Man’s Grave, Rebus is recently retired and working as a civilian on cold cases. A desperate mother visits the cold case unit, hoping for someone to take her seriously. Her teenage daughter disappeared on the eve of the millennium and she is convinced the disappearance is connected to a current case, as well as other cold cases.
Rebus believes there could be some truth in what she is saying – and sees the perfect way to get back in with CID. Before long, he is helping with the investigation into the disappearance of another teenage girl. But his methods of investigation are frowned on and he finds himself sailing close to the edge – and risks getting his old colleague DI Siobhan Clarke into trouble too.
Can Rebus find the missing girls and the killer or will hanging out with local gangsters get him in too much hot water before he does?
Standing in Another Man’s Grave is another brilliant page turner from Ian Rankin. Rebus might be retired and a heavy drinker, but he’s still got what it takes to track down a killer, even if his superiors don’t always believe him or like his methods.
Rebus fans might be interested to know that this is the first Rebus novel featuring DI Malcolm Fox. Fox appeared in a couple of Rankin novels of his own (which I haven’t read) before becoming a key recurring character in the more recent Rebus books.
If you enjoy detective stories and murder mysteries and you’ve never tried a Rebus novel before, I would definitely recommend them. There are 24 Rebus books, so you probably wouldn’t want to go all the way back to the start. of the series in the 1980s. Standing in Another Man’s Grave is as good a place as any to begin!
