Set in darkness

by Ian Rankin

Paper Book, 2000

Status

Available

Publication

London Orion 2000

Description

Edinburgh is about to become the home of the first Scottish parliament in 300 years. As political passions run high, DI John Rebus is charged with liaison, thanks to the new parliament being resident in Queensbury House, bang in the middle of his patch. But Queensbury House has its own, dark past. Legend has it that a young man was roasted there on a spit by a madman. When the fireplace where the youth died is uncovered another more recent murder victim is found. Days later, in the gardens outside, there is another body and Rebus is under pressure to find instant answers. As the case proceeds, the Inspector finds himself face to face with one of Edinburgh's most notorious criminals...

User reviews

LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
This was Inspector Rebus's second foray into the world of politics following his earlier brush with the corridors of power in 'Let it Bleed'. This time, the political context is the run up to the elections to the new Scottish Parliament, and Rebus finds himself with three mysteries to investigate

As
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part of the preparations Rebus has been co-opted onto the Police and Parliament Liaison Committee, more as a means of keeping him out of trouble than because of any deep political insight he might bring to the role. During one of the meetings of that Committee the members are shown around Queensberry House which will, when refurbished, house some of the parliamentary proceedings until the new, purpose built home is finished. During their tour of Queensberry House the Committee party discover a corpse hidden in one of the rooms that is undergoing renovation.

Shortly afterwards, a homeless man plummets to his death at Waverley Station. Among his meagre possessions is a building society passbook that shows his account had a balance of over £400,000.

Roddy Grieve, New Labour candidate for one of the Edinburgh constituencies in the first Scottish parliament is fond murdered, not far from the building site at Queensberry House. Grieve is a member of a prominent Scottish family: his elder brother is a Conservative MP at Westminster, his mother is a celebrated artist, and his sister was a leading model in the 1970s and is married to a successful progressive rock star. Their brothjer Alastair went missing some twenty years earlier.

As always, the city of Edinburgh itself looms as a significant character in the story, and Rankin captures the atmosphere perfectly. This time, in addition to his own demons (and there are enough of them to be going on with), Rebus has to contend with Derek Linford, a fast-track wonder boy based at Fettes, headquarters of Lothian and Borders Police, who, as a fellow member of the Liaison Committee, is assigned to the investigation of the murder of Roddy Grieve and, though equal only in rank to Rebus, nominally put in charge.

The political context is important, and Rankin plays it well, with Rebus frequently thinking back to the referendum in March 1979, which saw the onset of the fatal cracks in his marriage to Rhona, who had been a passionate advocate of independence.

Longer than its predecessors in the series, for me this book marked Rankin's progression to a writer of serious novels that happened to be about crime, rather than a mere crime novelist.
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LibraryThing member norinrad10
I read all of the Rebus books and am never dissappointed. Rankin would be a quality writer in any genre.
LibraryThing member MeredithYvonne
After Black and Blue I became addicted to the Inspector Rebus novels. They are all very compelling crime novels, which after reading a few get to be somewhat formulaic, but I don't care they are all still GREAT reads.
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Another Rebus masterpiece, this time using the new Scottish parliament building as a back-drop for murder, with victim a prospective MP. Thoroughly enjoyable with interesting light thrown on Scottish devolution in the process.
LibraryThing member pw0327
I have been reading this series in sequence, so I have been entertained by how Rankin is getting better at creating complex and convoluted plot twists and marveled at how refined his character development has become.

I believe this book marked a turning point. Rebus' drinking had always been a
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continuous and important sidebar of the story, it got relief earlier in the series. But when Rebus'friend Jack Morton was killed, Rebus fell off the wagon hard, and it really and truly made the character all the more complex and interesting. The drinking is now front and center and ruling his life and his work. Rebus can be seen to be in a slow death spiral towards uncontrollable depression, or does it? This is the beauty of the Inspector Rebus series, you begin to care about Rebus, no matter how bad he is with truth, women, relationships, and rules. As in a relation ship with real people, no one starts being completely hateful, but over the series of 12 books, I have come to know the character, I feel I know his history, and despite his odious state of de-evolution, I still care about the character because of the history that Rankin built up over the 12 books. I can't wait to read the rest of the series just for the Rebus development.

The mystery part involves three seemingly disparate deaths, one of a tramp, the second of a up and coming politician, and the third of a man whose death went unnoticed 20 years ago but he jumped back into the public consciousness in a very notable way. At first blush, I didn't think Rankin would be able to pull all this together into one story arc, but he did. I really should stop doubting his ability to do this. The procedure and methodology that Rankin uses to progress his story is once again, very enlightening. Mix in his accounting of the Scottish government and history, the history of 60's and 70's rock and roll, as well as his understated sarcastic asides makes this a very complex and enjoyable read, if you like life complicated, real, and not easily categorized nor understood. The story comes to an end, a very conclusive end, but also with a very depressing twist which sets Rebus up with a very difficult reality. You may not like it, but it is definitely a juicy beginning for the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
This is about as dark as it gets. Rebus is always one step behind his arch nemesis, Big Ger McCafferty.
The story moves quickly between a suicidal vagrant with £400k in the bank, a twenty years dead corpse turning up in the soon to be Scottish parliament building and a fast tract detective with a
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penchant for spying on ladies bedrooms. If that's not enough to be going on with, there's a rapist who is murdered by his partner and the Farmer standing up to the ACC on Rebus' behalf.
This is a cracking story, as one has come to expect from Ian Rankin but, I have deducted one star because I like my detectives to get their man, not have them bumped off as part of a gang land take over. Still worth every second in the reading!
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LibraryThing member Heptonj
Another excellent book from Ian Rankin. Rebus and his colleagues are on three different cases which finally merge into one -getting Rebus and another officer into conflict with each other and rewarding them both with punishment. There are one or two side-lines to this story which are interesting.
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
Set in Darkness is, I believe, the 12th John Rebus mystery by Ian Rankin and comes right after Dead Souls. Rebus is even more alone in this book which takes place in 1999. His relationship with Patience has ended, his daughter, Sammy, has moved to England to take an intensive physiotherapy
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treatment and work fills his life. And there is plenty of work to do so.

Rebus is on a special committee to oversee security for the new Scottish parliament. The police hot shot, Derek Linford, is on the committee as well. Rebus and Linford are at opposite ends of a very long stick when it comes to policing. Thus, when a skeleton is found in Queensbury House, site of the new parliament, and Rebus and Linford have to work together to figure out who the skeleton (soon referred to as Skelly) it's not a match made in heaven. Soon they have an even more important assignment when Roddy Grieve, Labour candidate for the new parliament, is found dead in a shed on the grounds. This merits a team of police and Rebus manages to get some of the officers he is comfortable with on the team. He'd like to have Siobhan Clarke working for him but she's investigating the suicide of a homeless person. Normally that wouldn't be a high priority but this homeless person had over four hundred thousand pounds in savings and seems to have materialized out of thin air in 1980.

Soon enough there are possible linkages between the three cases. Derek and Rebus are not seeing eye to eye on the investigation and Rebus is less than thrilled when Derek asks Siobhan out. After three dates Siobhan dumps Derek who does not take it gracefully. He starts spying on Siobhan from the tenement across the street from hers. One night when Rebus takes Siobhan home he finds out what Derek is doing. Rebus promises not to tell either Siobhan or their superiors if Linford leaves him to do his thing.

One of his things involves going to see Ger Cafferty's second in command to find out some details about another Edinburgh crime boss who seems to be connected to the cases. He has to see the second in command because Cafferty is in jail, due to Rebus. Imagine Rebus shock when Cafferty himself shows up as Rebus is meeting the 2IC.

So yes, Rebus has lots of work to keep him busy and his relationship with Cafferty may be the longest surviving one in his life.

At one point the investigation seems to lead to Rosslyn Chapel which figured in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. It's not a major point in the book but the fact that Rankin was writing about the Chapel at least 4 years before Dan Brown is, I think, important.
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LibraryThing member -Eva-
Politics, office and otherwise, may be where Rebus falters the most, so when a prospective MSP is found murdered and rebus is teamed with an up-and-coming detective, things are sure to go awry. And, to my personal delight, Big Ger Cafferty (the funniest nemesis I know) is back on the streets and
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ready for a rumble with Rebus. Rankin is, as always, a master of the characters, the vistas, and the language of Edinburgh. This is the eleventh in the series and it's only getting better.
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LibraryThing member Romonko
It's been awhile since i've read old Rebus, and I enjoyed getting back into the series. Ian Rankin is an extremely skilled mystery writer, and his Rebus creation is awesome. John Rebus is a very complex character-brooding, intelligent, determined to solve mysteries at any cost (even his own career
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as a policeman in the Edinburgh police force). What I really enjoy about Mr. Rankin's books are his perfectly believable and sinister plots that just roll along with no lagging or side stepping. And Rebus is a real hard-boiled police inspector. We not only see the dark side of Edinburgh life, but we are up front and personal with Rebus' dark side at all times throughout each of the books.This book starts with a mummified body found boarded up in a fireplace at an old building undergoing construction. Almost right away after this 20 some year old body is found, another body which is much fresher is discovered. The two appear to be unrelated to each other, but as Rebus and his team start digging, connections start appearing that reach far back into the Edinburgh underworld and an old nemesis reaches out to John Rebus as well. I cannot recommed this crime series enough. If you are a fan of United Kingdom police procedurals, then don't miss Rankin's wonderful Rebus series. I know I will be continuing to read again after a little hiatus.
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LibraryThing member Jiraiya
I really need to get off my backside and find the time to read this series in chronological order. Ian Rankin, I've been told, is a master for describing the city of Edinburgh. No one apparently does it better. I didn't know or notice this fact. This is one of those books which discouraged me from
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reading all the series. The main reason for my reticence is that in the background there's is always the same one and only mob boss who's pulling the strings. Anyway this book did little for me.
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LibraryThing member Bookish59
Lots of atmosphere in Rankin's mysteries. Set in Darkness includes multiple homicides and clues, personality clashes and surprises.

Great read!
LibraryThing member gmmartz
Ian Rankin is one of my favorite crime writers and his guy, John Rebus, is one of the great characters in the genre. I've jumped around in the series, which is a long one, so I've grown to appreciate how Rankin has 'aged' Rebus, taking him from his early days as a newbie to the end. 'Set in
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Darkness' is sort of at the midpoint- his 11th in the series, published in 2000.

As with all of them, Darkness is set in Edinburgh, Scotland and Rebus is as he always is: a highly competent detective who's a loner, gets under everyone's skin, drinks hard, smokes, and has lots of issues that both hinder and in some ways help his chosen career path. In this novel, 3 incidents occur at nearly the same time: a corpse is found on the grounds of a historic building that's undergoing modifications, a politician is murdered, and an old man commits suicide. Rebus and others are assigned to investigate. Who is the corpse? Why was the old man living as a pauper while he had 400K in pounds in the bank? Are there connections between the cases? Complicating matters is a young relatively inexperienced investigator who's been picked by his superiors to rise quickly that's assigned to lead one of the investigations, the re-appearance of Rebus' bete noire and arch-criminal Big Ger Cafferty, and lots of political intrigue. In due time, it's all wrapped up but not without a lot of eggs being cracked to make the omelet, as it were.

Set in Darkness is a competently done procedural with great writing, fine dialogue, wonderful descriptions of Edinburgh and its environs, and believable interaction between all the players.

SPOILER ALERT: The only thing I didn't like, and this is a problem I have in general, not just with this book, is that the author sort of telegraphs the whole thing up front. 3 disparate issues occur and, if they aren't connected, you have to assume the writer won't spend a lot of time on them. On their faces, they didn't have an obvious connection other than occur in time and place proximity, but as the investigators worked through the cases it became somewhat apparent, at least based on the work put in by the author to follow each case, that there was something there between them. I suppose that's one of the beauties of the Rebus character in that he was able to recognize the possibilities of connections and doggedly followed his instincts. Anyway, another good effort by Rankin!
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LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis: A body is found sealed up in a wall. A man who looks homeless but has a large amount of money commits suicide. A man standing for office is killed. Do all the cases fit together or has happenstance confused the issues? Inspector Rebus, still treated as an outsider, must bring all the
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clues together, protect Siobhan, and behave as a team member.
Review: While this is another dark study, the tying together of the crimes makes it interesting.
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LibraryThing member Andrew-theQM
This was another very enjoyable read in the Rebus Series. Ian Rankin does an excellent job in capturing the very essence of Edinburgh within his books, including it's under belly. His language wraps around you like a warm glove that keeps you reading on and on and on! Rebus is no more popular with
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the powers that be than he is in previous books, despite getting results by whatever means are needed. In this book he is involved in the periphery of two murders (one modern, one ancient) and a suicide. If this wasn't enough for him his nemesis reappears on the scene, and the Strawman (as he is called by this character) has more than enough on his plate, but he tucks in with full gusto! This book has all the ingredients to be a success, and undoubtedly succeeds. As always I look forward to getting lost in the next Rebus book. If you haven't read a book in the series, Knots and Crosses is a good introduction to the character and the series, as well as still being one of my favourites in the series. You won't be disappointed!
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LibraryThing member asxz
Rebus is still annoying and a jackass. The whole nemesis/soulmate shtick with Big Ger Cafferty is a total rip off from Block's Matt Scudder books. He's good at the weather, but that's about it.
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