Rankin Timeline
THE NAMING OF THE DEAD—April, 2007
At an Edinburgh Castle dinner during an international conference, a delegate has fallen to his death, and Rebus has 72 hours to find the killer.
FLESHMARKET ALLEY—February, 2005
A Kurdish refugee's death in a dreary housing estate leads Rebus into a labyrinthine plot involving a modern-day version of the slave trade.
A QUESTION OF BLOOD—February, 2004
Rebus investigates what seems to be a horrifying crime: a madman enters a school and starts shooting, killing two students and wounding a third before turning the gun on himself.
RESURRECTION MEN—February, 2003
Some of Rebus's fellow officers are suspected of being on the take, and it's his mission-should he accept it-to infiltrate their scam and perhaps even encourage them.
A GOOD HANGING—February, 2002
These 12 stories tell of crimes gone unsolved for 20 years, religious sightings, lovers crossed, and tales of revenge that all come under the jaundiced eye of Rebus.
THE FALLS—November, 2001
Rebus investigates the disappearance of the daughter of a powerful banker, and the few clues are incongruous: a puzzling Internet role-playing game she participated in and a doll in a tiny wooden coffin found near her discordant family's home.
SET IN DARKNESS—November, 2000
When a body, long dead, is found on the site of the new Scottish Parliament and is soon followed by another, fresher kill, this time that of a leading politician, Rebus is convinced of a connection between the two.
DEAD SOULS—September, 1999
Violent vigilantism breaks out in a housing project when Rebus informs the press that a convicted child molester lives in one of the apartments, and a serial killer just released from a U.S. prison returns to Edinburgh.
THE HANGING GARDEN—September, 1998
Rebus makes a deal with crime boss Ger Rafferty to take new hoodlum Tommy Telford down, while he also gives shelter to a suicidal prostitute and investigates the life and times of Joseph Lintz, a retired academic and alleged Nazi war criminal.
BLACK AND BLUE—February, 1999
The "Bible Johnny" copycat killer case would be perfect for Rebus, but after a run-in with a crooked senior officer, he's been shunted aside to one of Edinburgh's toughest suburbs, where he investigates the murder of an off-duty oilman.
LET IT BLEED—September, 1998
Following two suicides and a murder that just don't add up, Rebus finds himself up against a ruthless conglomerate on the make in every arena of power.
HIDE AND SEEK—September, 1997
In a shadowy, crumbling Edinburgh housing development, Rebus investigates a mysterious suicide: a junkie lies dead of an overdose, his bruised body surrounded by signs of Satanic worship.
TOOTH AND NAIL—May, 1996
Sent to London to help catch a vicious serial killer, Rebus teams up with a beautiful psychologist to piece together a portrait of a depraved psychopath bent on painting the town red with blood.
MORTAL CAUSES—December, 1995
A body has been discovered, brutally tortured and murdered in Edinburgh's buried city, and Rebus, ex-army, spots a paramilitary link.
THE BLACK BOOK—December, 1994
Rebus's colleague is assaulted at a restaurant owned by an Elvis enthusiast, a man is stabbed in a butcher shop, and a gun Rebus has unwittingly purchased may be connected to an unsolved murder.
STRIP JACK—January, 1994
Rebus investigates the murder of the wealthy wife of a much-loved politician whose body is found in a nearby river, a fatality mirroring the recent murder of another, unidentified, woman.
KNOTS AND CROSSES—August, 1987
Once John Rebus served in the elite SAS; now he's an Edinburgh policeman investigating the brutal abduction and murder of two young girls and a third missing.