The Beat Goes On by Ian Rankin (Orion, £18.99)
Back in 1983 Rebus was a rookie detective at Summerhall police station. “What’s with all the questions?” asks a colleague. “Just curious,” replies the 36-year-old former member of the SAS. “I tend to find that’s a dangerous trait in CID,” says the old hand. “You might want to get shot of it.” Fortunately — and typically — Rebus ignores the advice and proceeds to ask awkward questions in every single story of this hugely satisfying collection. There isn’t a dud among them.
All except two — The Passenger and A Three-Pint Problem — have been published before but it is good to have them all in one place. The chronological order allows us to see how Rebus becomes an old hand/dog himself as policing methods become ever more sophisticated, while human nature remains unremittingly savage. Each tale — thanks to Rankin’s skill at scene-setting and character — proceeds at an almost leisurely pace, until a pivotal paragraph produces a surprising conclusion.
The sardonic humour shines brighter than in the complex novels too. However, it is Rankin’s portrait of Edinburgh, a city with a split personality and a looming literary heritage, that is most impressive. No one mixes lightness and darkness better than him.
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