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A review by nwhyte
A Good Hanging by Ian Rankin
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1951749.html
This is the last of the Rebus books for me - though I still have about a half-dozen other Rankins on the shelves - a collection of short stories published in 1992, when Rebus's sidekick was still Brian Holmes rather than Siobhan Clarke; I missed her but otherwise really enjoyed all the stories, excellent little crime vignettes - in some cases you can see what the twist is likely to be but still admire Rankin's skill in getting us and Rebus there. (A couple of odd stylistic lapses in the second story, "The Dean's Curse", which almost made me wonder if Rankin had taken on an understudy; or else a case of Homeric nods.) Glad to finish Rebus on a high note, though chronologically I should have read it after Tooth and Nail or Strip Jack, much much earlier.
This is the last of the Rebus books for me - though I still have about a half-dozen other Rankins on the shelves - a collection of short stories published in 1992, when Rebus's sidekick was still Brian Holmes rather than Siobhan Clarke; I missed her but otherwise really enjoyed all the stories, excellent little crime vignettes - in some cases you can see what the twist is likely to be but still admire Rankin's skill in getting us and Rebus there. (A couple of odd stylistic lapses in the second story, "The Dean's Curse", which almost made me wonder if Rankin had taken on an understudy; or else a case of Homeric nods.) Glad to finish Rebus on a high note, though chronologically I should have read it after Tooth and Nail or Strip Jack, much much earlier.