IN A HOUSE OF LIES by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown and Company, January 2019) Hardcover, 372 pages. ISBN # 0316479209 / 9780316479202. Inspector Rebus series # 22.
Summary from the Goodreads website . . . . .
A new investigation threatens to unearth skeletons from Rebus' past.
Rebus' retirement is disrupted once again when skeletal remains are identified as a private investigator who went missing over a decade earlier. The remains, found in a rusted car in the East Lothian woods, not far from Edinburgh, quickly turn into a cold case murder investigation. Rebus' old friend, Siobhan Clarke is assigned to the case, but neither of them could have predicted what buried secrets the investigation will uncover.
Rebus remembers the original case--a shady land deal--all too well. After the investigation stalled, the family of the missing man complained that there was a police cover-up. As Clarke and her team investigate the cold case murder, she soon learns a different side of her mentor, a side he would prefer to keep in the past.
A gripping story of corruption and consequences, this new novel demonstrates that Rankin and Rebus are still at the top of their game.
My four-star review on the Goodreads website . . . .
When a murder victim is discovered years later, the investigation begins anew - - this time with all the modern tools (forensics, DNA analysis, soil sampling, etc) available to Scotland's law enforcement and criminal investigation departments. It creates a number of leads and suspects and the long process of interviewing suspects or those with knowledge of the crime kicks off.
Familiar characters Clarke and Fox are back, now playing bigger roles since mainstay John Rebus is in retirement. Obviously, Rebus can't resist an opportunity to involve himself in the proceedings and picks and probes in his unique and unorthodox style.
He gets wrapped up in a secondary assignment assisting Clarke, that also bears fruit thanks to the ability of law enforcement to eavesdrop on social media posts past and present. There is also a large amount of internal police politics and manipulation going on, including some less-than-role-model officers in authority.
This book took me a little longer to read than most Rebus novels. It's a bit slower and plodding, although Rankin is incapable of writing a boring book and keeps it lively through his characterization.
Like Michael Connelly writing about L.A. police methods, Rankin includes plenty of insights into Scottish criminal investigations. Both writers also let their characters age and change their behavior according to their declining physical and mental abilities, without disturbing the core elements that make them who they are. I love spending time with these two classic characters as we age together.
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