Remarkably fresh.” —Richard Lipez, Washington Post
“Rankin has found fresh ways to explore his insightful, cantankerous and independent character in each of Rebus' reappearances...The superb A Song for the Dark Times — a prophetic title if ever there was one and a metaphor for Rebus' life — works as a tale about mortality, lost opportunities, regrets and growing older…A Song for the Dark Times doesn’t miss a note in showcasing Rankin’s strong storytelling.” —Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"Mr. Rankin has been writing Rebus novels since 1987, and in this 23rd series entry, the author’s curmudgeonly hero proves as resolute as ever."—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
“Like Louise Penny, Rankin consistently finds clever ways of involving his retired detective in new investigations. Rankin hits on all cylinders here: he makes the most of the fascinating internment-camp story; he injects new life into the familiar mystery trope of an outside investigator roiling the surface calm of an insular community; and he continues to develop the rich interplay between Rebus and Clarke…As Tartan Noir grows in popularity, Rankin continues to lead the charge. His high-profile presence on social media will be particularly important in the pandemic era.” —Booklist, starred review
“Edgar winner Rankin’s excellent 23rd outing for John Rebus…As the two plots converge, the various credible, complex backstories coalesce into a highly satisfying and unified whole. This fresh entry boasts the kind of storytelling that made Rankin famous.” —Publishers Weekly
“The investigation has him contemplating the meaning of fatherhood, detection, and the nature of truth, for an emotional continuation of one of the world’s most respected series.” —CrimeReads
"Rebus is still the dogged investigator, able to make intuitive leaps about the dark places that inhabit the human soul and lead some to commit murder, whether in the distant past or in more recent times. Rankin will in time, likely retire Rebus for good, so we should appreciate him while we still have him."
—Jonathan Elderfield, Associated Press
“A compelling read that will leave you eagerly anticipating the next book in this winning series.” —BookReporter
"With A Song for the Dark Times, Rankin takes an absorbing look at the damage done by greed for land and the fact that, with or without fairways, its history can never be erased." —Lisa Henricksson, AirMail
Praise for IN A HOUSE OF LIES
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"There's no one like Ian Rankin for bringing us right into the world of detectives. For anyone who's fascinated by the inner workings of that world, and all its tricky, brutal, expert ruthlessness, In A House of Lies is a must-read."—Tana French
"Loved In A House Of Lies. How does Rebus keep on getting better and better? Ian Rankin is a genius."—Lee Child
"Rather Be the Devil will not disappoint - in the last 30 pages or so, Rankin delivers so many shocking but satisfying twists I felt I might have whiplash."—Tampa Bay Times
"One of the best things in crime fiction for years, but Rankin kicks it up several notches here."
—Booklist (Starred Review)
05/01/2020
The first mystery Banville has written under his own name, rather than as Benjamin Black, Snow stars a crusty Protestant detective investigating a murder in County Wexford, buried in endless Snow. In Carlyle's debut, The Girl in the Mirror, jealous Iris takes over the identity—and the handsome husband—of golden-girl twin sister Summer, who mysteriously disappears from a yacht in the middle of the Indian Ocean (100,000-copy first printing). In House of Correction, French's new stand-alone, back-in-town Tabitha is arrested for murder when a dead body is found in her shed, and given her pill-popping history of depression and faded recollections of the day, she starts wondering if she really is guilty (50,000-copy paperback and 30,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Jewell's Invisible Girl, virginal 30-year-old geography teacher Owen Pick is suspended from his job for sexual misconduct he denies, ends up on a shady online involuntary celibate forum, and eventually is a suspect in a teenager's disappearance (250,000-copy first printing). Molloy follows up her New York Times best-selling The Perfect Mother with Goodnight Beautiful, about newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter, who have moved to his quiet upstate New York hometown as he pursues his career as a therapist, though, dangerously, his sessions are heard by neighbors through a ceiling vent (100,000-copy first printing). A Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner and finalist for multitudinous awards, Neville collects short crime, horror, and speculative fiction (some new to print) in The Traveller and Other Stories, a cogent example of Northern Irish noir. With Death and the Maiden, Norman wraps up mother Ariana Franklin's 1100s England-set series about Adelia Aguilar, Mistress of the Art of Death, with an original story about Adelia's daughter, Allie, investigating when several girls go missing from a village she is visiting (40,000-copy first printing). The protean Oates offers four masterly, never-before-published novellas, exemplified by the titular story in Cardiff by the Sea, whose protagonist rediscovers past tragedy when she inherits a house in Maine from someone she doesn't know. In Patterson/Serafin's Three Women Disappear, a mob accountant who is the nephew of the don of central Florida is fatally stabbed in his own kitchen, and which of three women—his wife, his maid, or his personal chef—might be responsible (500,000-copy first printing)? Rankin's A Song for Dark Times witnesses the returns of Inspector Rebus (50,000-copy first printing). In The Devil and the Dark Water, Turton's follow-up to the top LibraryReads pick, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, famed detective Samuel Pipps is sailing back to Amsterdam in chains when terrifying events assault the crew, Pipps's sidekick vanishes, and Pipps himself is asked to puzzle out what's happening.
