A Good Hanging (original 1992; udgave 1998)

I gotta admit - I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped I would. Turns out, despite being a huge Ian Rankin fan, I'm not so much a fan of mysteries in short format. Too quick, too easily resolved - not enough time for the tension to really build and so the payoff can't ever be all that satisfying.

I also don't think the short format is Mr. Rankin's strong suit.

Of course this is a must-read for any Rankin/Rebus fans, and it reads quickly - but otherwise, not one I'd recommend. ( )

I've not read any of Ian Rankin's Rebus books, but if this colleciton of short stories is any judge, I probably ought to. Rebus is world weary and somewhat cynical, but he is always after the truth, in whatever form that might be. There are some stories that are quite distressing, others that have flashes of humour and asides that lighten the mood. None of the stories are very in depth, but they're all engaging to a degree. ( )

This collection contains 12 Rebus stories: Playback, The Dean Curse, Being Frank, Concrete Evidence, Seeing Things, A Good Hanging, Tit for Tat, Not Provan, Sunday, Auld Lang Syne, The Gentlemen's Club, and Monstrous Trumpet. Of these titles, "Not Provan" is my favourite simply based on wordplay, with "Concrete Evidence" a close second.

My favourite stories were "Seeing Things" (for the avalanche of puns), "Not Provan", and "Auld Lang Syne", but all of the stories had something to like about them. For example, "Sunday" contains a great quote about hoarding books, and several stories contain literary references. "The Dean Curse" is a play on Dashiell Hammett's "The Dain Curse", which Rebus reads and abandons over the course of the story. "Playback" could be seen as a nod to the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name, and the idea of Rebus showing the French police detective Cluzeau around in "Monstrous Trumpet" reminded me of Inspector Maigret having to play host to a Scotland Yard detective in Mon ami Maigret.

Because these are short stories, there isn't much room for twists and turns, and it may be fairly easy for readers to guess whodunnit. However, they work very well as capsule introductions to Rebus, so if you were looking to try the series, this might be a place to start. ( )

READ IN DUTCH

My first Rebus, after I had already watched the BBC series, which I liked. So I was interested in reading a book, and this was the one the library was offering when I went there.

It was an easy and nice read. The detective is quite cliche with its grumpy, alcoholic detective, but it's enjoyable anyway. I still want to read more books in this series, but haven't yet find the time to do so, unfortunately. ( )

All the stories in this book are included in The Beat Goes On, published in 2014. I would recommend getting the more recent collection as it covers all of Rebus's career. ( )