A Song for the Dark Times

A Song for the Dark Times

First edition
Author	Ian Rankin
Country	Scotland
Language	English
Series	Inspector Rebus
Release number	23
Genre	Detective fiction
Set in	Scotland
Publisher	Orion Books
Published in English	1st October 2020
Media type	Paperback
Pages	327
ISBN	9781409176886
Preceded by	In a House of Lies
Website	Author's webpage

A Song for the Dark Times is the 23rd installment in the Inspector Rebus series written by Ian Rankin. Retired John Rebus investigates the disappearance and death of his daughter's partner Keith Grant. Malcolm Fox and Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke (Shiv) are a major players in a parallel investigation, and 'Big Ger' Cafferty is also involved with Fox.

Rebus and pathologist Deborah Quant are still 'an item'; earlier when he asked her if they were courting she replied that they were friends with benefits - which seemed to suit both of them just fine.

Plot[]

John Rebus is a retired Detective Inspector, but is in regular contact with Siobhan Clark (Shiv), Shiv and divorced colleague DCI Graham Sutherland are lovers. But when Rebus tells Shiv he is moving and has not asked for help from his daughter Samantha (Sam) she hires a van and takes a weeks’ leave. He keeps his old fridge and washing machine, although they are rather too big for the new flat and gets IKEA bookshelves for his book and music collection, which took nearly a fortnight to cull. Rebus has more disagreements with Shiv over assembling the bookshelves than they ever had at work in CID (he is a Jack Reacher fan; Shiv likes Karin Slaughter). He has few family mementos; none of his parents and a few photos of his ex-wife and daughter. But he has a roomful of old police case-notes; he thinks he might still solve one of the (long) dead cases, and they keep him busy in his retirement. He moved into the old flat with Rhona forty years ago.

Then Samantha calls at 5 a.m. to tell him that Keith Grant her partner and father of Carrie has been missing for two days. Rebus knows that the partner will be a prime suspect, particularly as they were having a rough patch and Sam was seeing Jess Hawkins at a nearby commune. He thinks they might be right – but she can’t do time. He drives north in his old Saab 900 to the village of Naver eight miles from Tongue on the wild north coast; 250 miles and over five hours driving on the busy A9. The car player has one compilation CD, chosen by Shiv.

Keith has apparently not just walked out, and he was obsessed by the history of a nearby wartime internment camp Camp 1033 which housed both POWs and civilians of German and other nationalities. Rebus visits the camp and finds Keith's body; he was killed by a blow to the back of the head by (it turns out) Jimmy the grandson of a German internee Frank Hess who (as Keith guessed) framed another internee for the wartime murder of a guard. Later Jimmy almost strangles Rebus. The murder weapon is a rusty wartime pistol previously displayed in the local bar.

Siobhan and Malcolm Fox are investigating the murder of a rich Saudi student in Edinburgh; on the team is DS Tess Leighton with whom Fox had had a brief affair. Fox is attached to Major Crime Division at Gartcosh the Scottish Crime Campus, but moves back as Special Branch are interested in the case because of diplomatic pressure from Saudi Arabia. Eventually a friend who did it out of jealousy confesses. Money for a development could have been a motive.

General opinion is that Clarke rather than Fox should have got the Gartcosh posting. Fox also does a favour for Assistant Chief Constable Jennifer Lyon (who is headed for CC position) by viewing videos of her husband at "Big Ger" Cafferty's bar with a lover. "Big Ger" has legal and respectable sources of income now (a club, a boutique hotel, a betting shop, a car wash and student flats); but Rebus warns Fox of even doing a minor favour for him, investigating Stewart Scoular a property developer and ex-MSP. Lyon's husband Denis Jones resigns as university vice-chancellor and goes public about the affair on television to stop Big Ger having a hold over them.

Having lost Keith, Samantha will probably move back south, nearer her father.

Background[]

Ian Rankin writes in the Acknowledgments that he began the book "long before" the Covid outbreak of 2020, but edited it during Lockdown. He also thanks Forward Vision of Edinburgh for looking after their son "Kit" and other young adults in their care.

The title comes from Bertolt Brecht:

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.

References[]

External links[]