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Not in the Flesh: A Wexford Novel (Inspector Wexford Mystery)

Ruth Rendell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A new Chief Inspector Wexford mystery from the author who Time magazine has called “the best mystery writer in the English-speaking world.”

When the truffle-hunting dog starts to dig furiously, his master’s first reaction is delight at the size of the clump the dog has unearthed: at the going rate, this one truffle might be worth several hundred pounds. Then the dirt falls away to reveal not a precious mushroom but the bones and tendons of what is clearly a human hand.

In Not in the Flesh, Chief Inspector Wexford tries to piece together events that took place eleven years earlier, a time when someone was secretly interred in a secluded patch of English countryside. Now Wexford and his team will need to interrogate everyone who lives nearby to see if they can turn up a match for the dead man among the eighty-five people in this part of England who have disappeared over the past decade. Then, when a second body is discovered nearby, Wexford experiences a feeling that’s become a rarity for the veteran policeman: surprise.

As Wexford painstakingly moves to resolve these multiple mysteries, long-buried secrets are brought to daylight, and Ruth Rendell once again proves why she has been hailed as our greatest living mystery writer.

Knots and Crosses

Ian Rankin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Mr. Hyde's Edinburgh, not McCall Smith's... 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is the first of Rankin's Edinburgh crime novels featuring detective John Rebus. Alexander McCall Smith gave Rankin a "cameo" part in his serial novel 44 Scotland Street, mentioning in his introduction that Rankin thought his portrait much "nicer" than his real personality. I don't know about that...but it is certainly true that while McCall Smith gives us a colorful, heartwarming view of Edinburgh society (albeit with wry cynical touches), Rankin shows us the Edinburgh of Mr. Hyde, famously bad weather and all. Rebus ruminates, "it was not a nice world this...it was an Old Testament land that he found himself in, a land of barbarity and retribution." And yet the picture-postcard surface of this world is one where librarians are shocked that children are being murdered - "But here, in Edinburgh! It's unthinkable."

Our hero John Rebus has been formed by his successful years in the Army Parachute Regiment, and this book is haunted by the buried memories of his brutal training for the Special Air Services. He's a native of Fife but has little nostalgia for his former home or his brother there; he's been a policeman for fifteen years and "all he had to show were an amount of self-pity and a busted marriage with an innocent daughter hanging between them." His brother Michael has taken up his father's occupation as a stage hypnotist and made it pay.

Out of Rebus's past emerges a pathological killer whose unmasking teases out Rebus's psychological history. Killer and cop are connected in the same vein as Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books or Patterson's Alex Cross mysteries, but to my mind Rankin's work is more credible, less gratuitously sensational.

Rebus is a very human cop, not above lifting a few fresh rolls and milk from the sidewalk in front of a little grocery shop. "Nothing tasted better than a venial sin." He's a reader whose favorite book is Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, because at least Raskolnikov has a conscience. When Rebus's daughter is abducted, his ex-wife taken to hospital, "standing in the waiting-room, he realized that in his life he had accepted secondary experience -- the experience of reading someone else's thoughts - over real life...he was face-to-face with it now all right, he was back in the Paras...his brain aching, every muscle tensed."

He also has run away from his memories by drinking, but in the course of this case he beats that addiction. "Rebus did not go dizzy this time, nor did he panic and run for it. He stood up to the sound and allowed it to make its point, let it wash over him until it had had its say. He would never run away from that memory again."

The resolution of this mystery is logical yet unexpected. There are wonderful characters along the way: Rebus's new girlfriend Gill Templer, Rebus's ex-wife and daughter, as well as a venial journalist named Jim Stevens. Rankin's portrait of this ambitious journalist's speculative, manipulative approach to the truth is a small masterpiece. In fact, this book is a small masterpiece. Read it and you will want to read the others, in sequence - consult Ian Rankin's website for a list!

Editorial Review:

Detective John Rebus: His city is being terrorized by a baffling series of murders...and he's tied to a maniac by an invisible knot of blood. Once John Rebus served in Britain's elite SAS. Now he's an Edinburgh cop who hides from his memories, misses promotions and ignores a series of crank letters. But as the ghoulish killings mount and the tabloid headlines scream, Rebus cannot stop the feverish shrieks from within his own mind. Because he isn't just one cop trying to catch a killer, he's the man who's got all the pieces to the puzzle...

Knots and Crosses introduces a gifted mystery novelist, a fascinating locale and the most compellingly complex detective hero at work today.

The Snow Empress: A Thriller (Sano Ichiro Novels)

Laura Joh Rowland

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Japan, 1699. On a moonlit night in Ezogashima, the northernmost island of Japan, a woman is running through the forest when an arrow zooms out of the darkness to strike her dead. Meanwhile, a world away in the city of Edo, the eight-year-old son of Sano Ichiro, the samurai detective who has risen to power and influence in the shogun’s court, vanishes during a moon-watching party.

            When Sano’s political rival, Lord Matsudaira, hints that the boy may be in Ezogashima, Sano’s wife, Reiko, insists on accompanying him on the desperate journey. After an eleven-day voyage through cold and treacherous waters, they arrive at Ezogashima, only to find that Lord Matsumae, distraught at the murder of his mistress, is holding the whole province hostage until someone confesses to the crime. No one is allowed in or out of Ezogashima, and although Matsumae tells Sano his son is there, he refuses to release him.

            Sano strikes a deal: He will solve the murder of Matsumae’s mistress if Lord Matsumae will free the hostages and return their son. Soon, however, he and Reiko find themselves caught up in a dangerous scheme that includes clan warfare, jealous husbands, and murderous betrayal.

Friend of the Devil

Peter Robinson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Chief Inspector Alan Banks and Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot must work together to solve two chilling crimes in a stunning new novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Robinson

One morning in March, on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, a woman named Karen Drew is found in her wheelchair with her throat slit. Back in Eastvale on that same morning, in a tangle of narrow alleys behind a market square, the body of Hayley Daniels is found raped and strangled.

Two murders . . . two towns . . .

On loan to a sister precinct, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot draws the first case. Karen Drew seems to have lived a quiet and nearly invisible life for the past seven years. Try as she might, Annie turns up nothing in the woman's past that might have prompted someone to wheel her out to the sea and to her death.

Meanwhile, in the Hayley Daniels murder, Chief Inspector Alan Banks has suspects galore. Everywhere she went, the nineteen-year-old student attracted attention. Anyone could have followed her on the night she was out drinking with friends, making sure she never made it back home.

Then a breakthrough spins Annie's case in a shocking and surprising new direction, straight toward Banks. Coincidence? Not in Eastvale. Banks and Annie are searching for two killers who might strike again at any moment and with bloody fury.

Tooth and Nail

Ian Rankin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Rebus Versus The Wolfman 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I'm baaaaaack!

After reading the first Rebus novel (Knots and Crosses), I knew I'd continue to read the rest of Ian Rankin's excellent crime fiction stories.

This is actually the third novel in the Inspector Rebus series, and author Ian Rankin's prose continues to astound me. He masterfully weaves a tapestry of plot, character, and location throughout nearly every page (Example from the prologue: `She drives home the knife. The moment, she knows from past experience, is a very intimate one. Her hand is gripped around the knife's cool handle and the thrust takes the blade into the throat up to the hilt until her hand meets the throat itself. Flesh upon flesh. Jacket first, or woollen jersey, cotton shirt or T-shirt, then flesh. Now rent. The knife is writhing, like an animal sniffing. Warm blood covering hilt and hand. (The other hand covers the mouth, stifling screams.) The moment is complete. A meeting. Touching. The body hot, gaping, warm with blood. Seething inside, as insides become outsides. Boiling. The moment is coming to an end all too soon.')

But this time we're no longer in Edinburgh. No? No. Inspector Rebus is sent to London (Oh the pain!) to try and help catch a serial killer whom the local coppers can't pin down. They've nick-named the murderer "The Wolfman", because he bites the victims on the stomach after he kills them. But why send Rebus? Well, in Knots and Crosses, he helped find another serial killer in Edinburgh, and so George Flight (a local London CID guy) requested Scotland's "expert". Rebus sees himself as anything BUT an expert on such things, but reluctantly goes to England's capital to do what he can.

Come to find out, he can do quite a bit; including getting into lots of trouble. He falls for a beautiful psychologist named Liza Frazer (who might have connections with the killer!), disappears for hours or days on end, drinks like a fish, and goes on television and announces that they've caught the killer (even when he knows they haven't). But Rebus' mind works a bit differently than most folks. He can worm his way into a killer's mind as the case unfolds. And we again see how Rebus' past comes to the forefront and aids him in capturing the villain.

The great thing about Rebus is that he's so f#$%ed up that the reader can identify with all of his vices and character flaws. He's no superhuman, and he knows it. But what he does have is a nose for killers, and this bodes poorly for them. Because once Rebus is on your trail, you'll never get away.

Now, it's on to the next in the series!

Editorial Review:

They call him the Wolfman - because he takes a nip out of his victims and because they found the first victim in the East End's lonely Wolf Street. But there's no urban predator that Rebus fears. When Scotland Yard are anxious to find the last serial killer on their patch they look north and soon Rebus is on his way south from the chill of Edinburgh to the rain of London. A serial killerfrom Dr Liza Frazer is attractive in more ways than one and Rebus is happy to take her up on her offer of help. But in taking on one ally who doesn't think that everyone achilles heel in the fight against the Wolfman.

Hide and Seek (Inspector Rebus Novels)

Ian Rankin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A peek under the kilt of a nasty side of Edinburgh! 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The plot is certainly simple enough on the face of it. Inspector Rebus is assigned to investigate the death of a junkie in his run down tenement squat. The victim's body has been obviously arranged after death in the shape of a crucifix. Candles surround the corpse and the crude pentagram on the wall is so fresh that the paint is still tacky. At first blush, the cause of death appears to be a simple heroin overdose taken in the throes of some sort of odd satanic ritual but the medical examiner's autopsy discloses something entirely different. What now appears to be a murder by lacing a junkie's fix with rat poison takes Inspector Rebus on a tour of the seamy underbelly of a gritty Edinburgh that you certainly won't find in the Michelin five star travel guide.

Junkies, addicts and pushers; gay and straight prostitution; dog fighting; illegal high stakes gaming and brothels; corruption in the police force, on the bench and at the bar; alcoholics and drunkards - they all make their way onto the stage of "Hide and Seek" in a novel that seems determined to portray Scotland as a bleak and unrelentingly dreary den of sin and iniquity. On the face of it, the novel has the flavour of a Michael Connelly police procedural but the comparison stops right there. Rankin has provided little in the way of descriptions of dogged police work and the pursuit of clues and has focused on dialogue and character development almost to the exclusion of everything else.

So how does one rank that? From the point of view of looking for a great police procedural or an engaging mystery, I was singularly unimpressed (two stars at best). But the dialogue and the characterization was first rate. The clever, appealing, understated British style of wit and humour was apparent throughout the entire novel despite its dark setting (unquestionably worth four stars). I suppose we've got to give it an overall rating of three stars and try another entry in the series to see if there are better pickings as far as plot goes.

Paul Weiss

Editorial Review:

At night the summer sky stays light over Edinburgh. But in a shadowy, crumbling housing development, a junkie lies dead of an overdose, his bruised body surrounded by signs of Satanic worship. John Rebus could call the death and accident--but won't. Instead, he tracks down a violent-tempered young woman who knew the dead boy and heard him cry out his terrifyng last words: "Hide! Hide!" Now, with the help of a bright, conflicted young detective, Rebus is following the girl through a brutal world of bad deals, bad dope and bad company. From a beautiful city's darkest side to the private sanctums of the upper crust, Rebus is seeking the perfect hiding place for a killer.

Demon in My View

Rendell Ruth, Ruth Rendell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 275 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

great book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Im very well into vampires, and witches, werewolves and things of that nature. I'm always looking for new and interesting stories to red, and movies to watch where they re all over scene and completely throughout the book, or movie. I really loved this book "Demon In My View". I just wish it could have been a little longer, stretched out a little more. I wish that Jessica and Fala could have had that fight. I wish the book would have ended with perhaps Aubrey, and Jessica hunting together, and maybe being more romantic with each other, since it was clearly obvious that they were attracted to each other, and was connected on that level. I wish the book would have gone into talking about what happens to Caryn after she went home. Are her and Jessica friends now? do they talk since the incident. Seeing as Caryn is the true reason that she is indeed alive. What happens now? Jessica has been changed, Caryn has done something her mother will surely disapprove of. Will she tell her? or will her mom pick it up. Will Jessica ever talk to Caryn again? Will Jessica and Aubrey be long lasting lovers, and grow to have kids of their own one day. I think "Demon In My View" is a great beginner book, of many sequels to come. A great foundation and the author Amelia Atwater-Rhodes should take it and run. We only know through Jessica writings all the things that happened in the past with Aubrey, siete, her mother, and the other vampires. but now we have the chance to actually follow it book by book, and watch the whole thing unrattles. This could be an extraordinary foundation, and the beginning for many many eye bolting, end of the chair, very high anticipation, and mental hunger for other books to follow using these characters. Overall without given too much of the book away hopefully. This book is amazing. Though im far from a teenager, I will be looking out for books that have Amelia Atwater-Rhodes name as the author. She is a talented writer indeed, and I hope she will be able to keep it up in the years to come. AWESOME BOOK...!!!

Editorial Review:

Jessica isn't your average teenager. Though nobody at her high school knows it, she's a published author. Her vampire novel Tiger, Tiger has just come out under the pen name Ash Night. Jessica often wishes she felt as comfortable with her classmates as she does among the vampires and witches of her fiction. She has always been treated as an outsider at Ramsa High.

But two new students have just arrived in Ramsa, and both want Jessica's attention. She has no patience with overly friendly Caryn, but she's instantly drawn to handsome Alex, a cocky, mysterious boy who seems surprisingly familiar. If she didn't know better, she'd think Aubrey, the alluring villain from Tiger, Tiger had just sprung to life. That's impossible, of course; Aubrey is a figment of her imagination. Or is he?

Nail-bitingly suspenseful, here is the deliciously eerie follow-up to In the Forests of the Night, by the remarkable fifteen-year-old novelist Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.

The Hanging Garden (Inspector Rebus Novels)

Ian Rankin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon... The hanging of four French villagers in World War II... The hanging of an old man in a Scottish cemetary... Seemingly random facts linked to one man...

Detective Inspector John Rebus is buried under a pile of paperwork generated by his investigations into a suspected war criminal, and his immediate supervisors are more than happy to have him tucked away in a quiet backwater for several months. However, the escalating dispute between upstart Tommy Telford and Big Ger Cafferty's gang soon gives Rebus an escape clause. Telford is known to have close ties to a man nicknamed Mr. Pink Eyes, a brutal gangster running a lucrative business bringing Chechen refugees into Britain to work as prostitutes. And when Rebus takes under his wing a distraught Bosnian call girl, it gives him a personal reason to make sure Telford takes the high road out of town. Within days, Rebus's daughter is the victim of an all-too-professional hit-and-run, and Rebus knows that there's nothing he won't do to bring down prime suspect Tommy Telford--even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.

A chilling glimpse into the darkest extremes of human cruelty, a page-turning literary thriller, this ninth entry in Ian Rankin's award-winning series confirms his reputation as a writer of rare and lasting gifts.

The Naming of the Dead: An Inspector Rebus Novel (Detective John Rebus Novels)

Ian Rankin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

underside of Edinburgh 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Remember the G8 conference and the tube/bus bombings in London? Inspector Rebus' latest case revolves around those incidents, which captured the attention of the world. In addition to the hellacious security problems, Rebus is faced with the death of his brother, a serial killer, the apparent suicide of an MP, and the death of a local politician. The higher ups have had it with him anyway, and forbid him to rock the boat while the eyes of the world are upon Edinburgh.

Rebus and his protege, Inspector Siobhan Clark, aren't the type to just let things go, and they forge ahead, under the radar, regardless of what the chief constable thinks. They lose their way quite a few times, and it when they finally figure out what's what, they are astonished. Author Rankin brings his readers on a crawl through Edinburgh, from the richest to the seamiest, from the powerful to the punks. Nothing cozy here, nothing fancy, just gritty, dogged, intelligent police work. And real, multidimensional characters.

Naming of the Dead is worth a second perusal, just to pick up on all the missed cues and clues. Great crime fiction.

Editorial Review:

The leaders of the free world descend on Scotland for an international conference, and every cop in the country is needed for front-line duty...except one. John Rebus's reputation precedes him, and his bosses don't want him anywhere near Presidents Bush and Putin, which explains why he's manning an abandoned police station when a call comes in. During a preconference dinner at Edinburgh Castle, a delegate has fallen to his death. Accident, suicide, or something altogether more sinister? And is it linked to a grisly find close to the site of the gathering? Are the world's most powerful men at risk from a killer? While the government and secret services attempt to hush the whole thing up, Rebus knows he has only seventy-two hours to find the answers.

Mortal Causes (Inspector Rebus)

Ian Rankin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Troubles In Edinburgh 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

After a particularly gruesome murder is discovered during Edinburgh's Fringe Festival, Inspector John Rebus is seconded to the elite Scottish Crime Squad. The reason for this is that aspects of the murder make it appear that a terrorist group was responsible and Rebus's previous SAS experience would come in handy. The investigation takes him from his home base to the villages of rural Scotland and across to Belfast and back again.

Throughout the book, the Catholic versus Protestant problem is continually raised, comparing Scotland to the Troubles in Northern Ireland and suggesting that the same uprising could be imminent. While the characters were discussing terrorist organisations there were enough three letter acronyms being bandied about to make me think I might have stumbled into a Microsoft manual.

Once again we are treated to the bare bones of Edinburgh's back streets and dingy estates that have fallen into ruin. Rebus is as inscrutable and removed from his fellow officers as ever, yet, at least for me, he is becoming more and more likable. I feel this series is getting more and more enjoyable with every book I read, this one is no exception.

Editorial Review:

In Edinburgh you're never far from a peaceful spot, or from a hellish one either. Now, in the heart of summer, in the midst of a nationalist festival, Inspector John Rebus is on the murder case of a young man left hanging in a spot where his screams would never be heard. To find the victim's identity--and his killer--Rebus searches from Edinburgh's most violent neighborhood to Belfast, Northern Ireland--amongst petty thugs, gunrunners, and heavyweight criminals. But before Rebus can get to the truth, he's bloodied by the dream of society's madmen--and staring into the glint of a killer's eyes.