Product Description

Edinburgh is a city steeped in history and tradition, a seat of learning, of elegant living, known as the 'Athens of the North'. But that isn't all. The city's flip-side is a city of grudges, blackmail, violence, greed and fear - where past and present clash and old wounds fester. In any year Detective Inspector John Rebus can expect gang warfare, murder, assault and battery at the very least. In this collection he investigates the hanging of a student actor during the Festival, an arson attack on a bird watcher and the witnessing of an apparent miracle...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #196265 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 253 pages

About the Author
Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first Rebus novel was published in 1987, and the Rebus books are now translated into more than twenty languages and are bestsellers worldwide. Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America's celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men. He has also been shortlisted for the Anthony Award in the USA, won Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and the Deutscher Krimipreis. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Hull and the Open University. A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts. Rankin is a number one bestseller in the UK and has received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

Customer Reviews

Consistently excellent. Rankin never lets us down
Perfect as a first Rankin book and introduction to Rebus, or for a quick fix of excellent stories when you're too busy to spend 10 hours with a Rankin novel that you just can't put down.

A must for all Ian Rankin fans!
If you are an Ian Rankin fan who finds it hard to put down his books then this is the one for you. There is a nice mixture of short stories so you can put the book down to do essential chores! As usual the style, delivery and content cannot fail to please.

Different lengh, same quality
Having read a number of the Rebus novels I was worried that Rebus in short story form would not be as entertaining. I am glad
to say such worries were groundless; these stories are excellent examples of short story writting and retain the flavour of the novels.