A Heart Full of Headstones: Pre-Order The Brand New Must-Read John Rebus Thriller Now

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William McIlvanney is widely credited as the founder of the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors such as Denise Mina, Ian Banks, and Val McDermid, all of whom cite him as an influence and inspiration. McIlvanney’s Laidlaw trilogy “changed the face of Scottish fiction” ( The Times of London), his Docherty won the Whitbread Award for Fiction, and his Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch both gained Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association. Strange Loyalties won the Glasgow Herald’s People’s Prize. William passed away in December 2015. Rebus, now retired, has been summoned by crime lord Big Ger Cafferty in his request to find a man long disappeared and one many thought killed by Cafferty. Cafferty explains to Rebus he would like to make amends with the missing man and while Rebus agrees to do so, he is greatly suspicious of Cafferty's stated purpose. Walter R Brooks, who created Mister Ed, the talking horse, wrote 26 books about Freddy and the other animals on the Bean family farm. Humans own the farm, but the animals help with both farmwork and housework. Imagine fluffy bunnies as dustcloths.

Filmed on the Isle of Gigha, Channel 4's Murder Island saw eight ordinary members of the public compete to find a killer filmed in October/November last year. Read More Related ArticlesLew Archer was the brainchild of Ross Macdonald (the nom de plume of Kenneth Millar). Archer was a private eye who walked the mean streets of Los Angeles for decades, and saw an unwieldy evolution of humanity with every stride. He could not have existed without Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe before him. Spade had the callous unpredictability, Marlowe the snarky wit; Archer brought to the table a heart and a soul, and a way of making sense of the world that was deeply, viscerally connected to the reader. Like all pandemics, there are those that succumb, those that struggle through, and those that seek to profit, in this case by “Furlough Fraud”. No shortage of slippery characters here: a well-connected land developer, a lettings agency once owned by “Big Ger” and tenuous links from there to a man “Big Ger” reputedly had eliminated. His new henchman, Andrew, was at one time employed by underworld figure Darryl Christie, currently serving a 25 year sentence. Aside from the edgy humour, the author drops in descriptions of the city itself. William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw books changed the face of crime fiction. When he died in 2015, he left half a handwritten manuscript of Laidlaw’s first case. Ian Rankin has finished what McIlvanney started. Here, in The Dark Remains, these two iconic authors bring to life the criminal world of 1970s Glasgow, and Laidlaw’s relentless quest for truth. As the plot unfolds there are several strands going on but as usual Ian Rankin handles this with aplomb. It’s a complex but highly entertaining novel, how could it be anything else if John Rebus is involved. As for Brillo the dog, Brillo by nature! Rebus could still hear singing coming from the Meadows, and a dog barking, and a distant siren. Somewhere, someone needed help. Somewhere, bad things were happening. He’d spent his whole life in that world, a city perpetually dark, feeling increasingly weighed down, his heart full of headstones.

Well, it’s always going to be five star for my favourite detective of all time and yes, I have read all 24!This was one that I couldn’t stop reading. As soon as my eyes were rested, I’d start another chapter. Yet it wasn’t a fast thriller. With its large cast of characters, I probably would have been lost except that I had been reading the Rebus novels for more than two decades, so many of the recurring players and their past interactions were well fixed in my memory. There is one scene where Rebus leaves Siobhan Clarke and as he walks away, she observes a weathered stooped, old man. She reflects on how once he was a figure of strength, feared by many. It was a sad poignant point in the story. I love the way Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot combines brilliant intellectual deduction and a deep understanding of the dark side of human nature with a strong desire to make life as jolly as possible. He appreciates the finer things: his sirops, his wonderful moustaches, well-tailored clothes, beautiful things and places. I can also strongly relate to his obsessively tidy streak and his desire to matchmake in the romantic arena. He is excellent at persuading people that the person they’re madly in love with is a moral vacuum, and to consider the much nicer and more reliable alternative romantic prospect instead. Last but not least, I love his showmanship: gathering all the suspects together and delivering an amazing performance as he shares the solution to the mystery.