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Book summary and reviews of Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin

Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin

Standing in Another Man's Grave

by Ian Rankin

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  • Published:
  • Jan 2013
    400 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

For the last decade, Nina Hazlitt has been ready to hear the worst about her daughter's disappearance. But with no sightings, no body, and no suspect, the police investigation ground to a halt long ago, and Nina's pleas to the cold case department have led her nowhere.

Until she meets the newest member of the team: former Detective John Rebus.

Rebus has never shied away from lost causes - one of the many ways he managed to antagonize his bosses when he was on the force. Now he's back as a retired civilian, reviewing abandoned files. Necessary work, but it's not exactly scratching the itch he feels to be in the heart of the action.

Two more women have gone missing from the same road where Sally Hazlitt was last seen. Unlike his skeptical colleagues, Rebus can sense a connection - but pursuing it leads him into the crosshairs of adversaries both old and new.

Rebus may have missed the thrill of the hunt, but he's up against a powerful enemy who's got even less to lose.

On the twentieth anniversary of Ian Rankin's first American publication comes a novel bursting with the vitality and suspense that made its author one of crime fiction's most dazzling stars. Standing in Another Man's Grave is the triumphant return of John Rebus, and a riveting story of sin, redemption, and revenge.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Rankin deserves every award he's been given: an Edgar, a Gold Dagger, a Diamond Dagger. Surely there's another one waiting for Rebus' thrilling return to the fold." - Kirkus

"Genius... Rankin once again proves himself to be the consummate master of crime." - Scotland on Sunday (UK)

"Ian Rankin's fiction is as reliable as it is successful, so this installment will thrill his many fans." - The Literary Review (UK)

"Rebus has returned... and it's a treat to welcome him back." - The Times (UK)

"An impeccably crafted whodunnit." - The Sunday Times (UK)

"Rebus is without doubt one of the funniest among the classical fictional detective, and his 19th case features some fine one-liners... Standing in Another Man's Grave is Rankin's most interesting book politically... Cheeringly, it seems clear from the final pages that there will be more Rebus books to chart the next stage in Scotland's story." - The Guardian (UK)

"Now we know retirement has not withered Rebus." - The Daily Telegraph (UK)

This information about Standing in Another Man's Grave was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Ian Rankin Author Biography

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.

After university and before his success with his Rebus novels, Ian had a number of jobs including working as a grape-picker, a swineherd, a journalist for a hi-fi magazine, and a taxman. Following his marriage in 1986, he lived briefly in London where he worked at the National Folktale Centre, followed by a short time living in France, before returning to Edinburgh.

Ian's first novel Summer Rites remains in his bottom drawer, but his second novel, The Flood, was published in 1986, while his first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, was published in 1987. The Rebus series is now ...

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