Arthur Conan Doyle brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead following public outcry. Ian Rankin has only yanked detective inspector John Rebus out of retirement, but fans will still be rejoicing at news that the dour investigator is set to return later this year with a new mystery to solve.
Standing in Another Man's Grave, the first book to feature Rebus since he retired in 2007's Exit Music, will be out this November, Rankin said on Tuesday. Rebus, promised the Scottish author, will be "as stubborn and anarchic as ever", and will find himself in trouble with the author's latest creation, Malcolm Fox, of Edinburgh's internal affairs unit. His protege Siobhan, meanwhile, will be moving forward with her own career after leaving Rebus's shadow.
Rankin said that, even though he officially retired Rebus in Exit Music, he still "felt there was unfinished business between the two of us". The author has been writing about the Edinburgh detective since 1987's Knots and Crosses, and has won numerous awards for his Rebus books.
"He had never really gone away, but was working for Edinburgh's cold case unit. And I knew I had a story that was a perfect fit for him," said Rankin.
The new book takes its title from a song by the late Jackie Leven, a singer and songwriter who was a friend of Rankin's. "Jackie was a great guitarist and a fine songwriter with a vein of robust romantic imagery and a voice that could melt granite," said Rankin. "He was also a terrific storyteller whose life had provided no end of material. He's still much missed by all of us who knew him."
