Last month Ian Rankin came to town and on a cold, snowy night and he had a packed house with fans that came from as far as Pennsylvania and New York. I must again give a shout out to our library system, who always brings in the big names (this month I’m seeing Harlan Coben and next month Stephanie Evanovich and Heather Morris). Anyway, I loved Ian’s first Rebus book and really wanted to spend an evening with a legit Scottish accent. So my mom and I went (he is signing her book here). He was delightful. He spoke for about an hour and took a lot of questions, some very serious ones about current affairs, like Brexit, and managed to educate and entertain.
Hide and Seek. Finished 3-7-19, 4.5/5 stars, mystery, 272 pages, pub. 1990
Book #2 in the Inspector Rebus series (1-Knots and Crosses)
A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat, spreadeagled, cross-like on the floor, between two burned-down candles, a five-pointed star daubed on the wall above.
Just another dead addict – until John Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurks behind the facade of the Edinburgh familiar to tourists.
Only Rebus seems to care about a death which looks more like a murder every day, about a seductive danger he can almost taste, appealing to the darkest corners of his mind … from Goodreads
So, Inspector Rebus is back. I looked back at my thoughts on the first book and saw that I was concerned about how much alcohol everyone drank. Well, I’m happy to say that Rebus, at least, was a bit more restrained. It’s a year later and he has no contact with his family and his girlfriend is gone and he seems…okay? He gets an invite to the big boys club and he takes it, if a little unwillingly. He needs to sign off on an overdose and move on to a more cushy job, but he just can’t let it go.
When we met Ian I mentioned how much my mom enjoys dead bodies and he said that his series had a low body count. That may be true later in the series (it’s over 20 now) but this one seemed to have its fair share of corpses. All well deserved in my opinion.
As with the first book I love the Edinburgh setting and the often surly Inspector Rebus. The plot will keep you reading, I promise. I can’t wait to continue with this series. And if you get a chance to hear Rankin speak, take it!
Stacy's Books 
I feel that I should be reading some Rankin. I don’t know when/if that will happen.
If you don’t want to commit to the series he mentioned that he did write a few standalones.
I love author events – haven’t had the chance to attend one in a while. This sounds like a good one. Haven’t read Rankin but I’ll look for a standalone.
I haven’t started this series either, but it’s one that is always praised. How fun that you got to see him and listen to him speak. I love author events. It’s great that your library brings in so many authors. I have a good friend who moved from Austin to St. Louis a year or so ago. She’s been keeping me updated about who her library features for author events. She’s gotten to see so many fun authors. I’m going to make a point of getting KNOTS AND CROSSES soon. I want to begin several long-running series that I haven’t tried as yet. Thanks for telling us about your fun time!
That’s SO cool! I love where I live, but I do miss living in a place where so many authors come to speak (and getting to my nearest major city is an utter nightmare, so I almost never go). I’m glad you had such a fabulous time, and I’m SO jealous!!!!
What an awesome evening! I love that you got to share it with your mom! I have to ask, is that a bottle of beer in the picture?
Yes! Brought to him by a fan 🙂
We get a lot of local author events but not too many out of staters! So wow to your library system. This crime series looks fascinating. I have a neighbor who’s from Edinburgh and I would love to read at least the first in the series.
The first book was darker than this one, but I liked them both a lot.