I picked up this murder mystery novel from Vivian’s lending library to make room in the little box on her front lawn for One Hundred Years of Solitude. Only later did I realize that this is #21 (of 23) in a series featuring Inspector John Rebus. It seems there are more murders in fictional Edinburgh, than in the real city, with four in this story alone.
By the midpoint, I was totally confused by the complicated plot twists and the multiple shady characters. (I read through to the end, but it didn’t improve.) There is some great dialogue and one-liner quips, along with dry Scottish witticisms, but these hardly make up for a very unrealistic story line and dark characters. Like the characters in Peggy Blair’s and Louise Penny’s series, the real murderers are always portrayed as the least likely suspects until late in the story. And there are always flawed crocked cops who compete with each other and keep information secret rather than cooperate. Therefore is usually a brilliant, single, eccentric investigator or retired detective modelled after Hercule Poirot who solves multiple mysteries. In Louise Penny’s series that is Quebec’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache; here it is Scotland’s Inspector Rebus; in Peggy Blair novels it is Cuba’s Inspector Ramirez. Can you spell ‘formulaic’?
Perhaps I would have been less confused and disappointed if I started with the first Rankin novel featuring John Rebus and read them in order, as apparently they all feature many of the same characters. But I am not about to waste that much time on this genre.
The Passionate Reader 