Ian Rankin's Rebus to make another comeback

Will the dogged cop ever get a chance to enjoy his retirement?

Pity poor Inspector Rebus - Ian Rankin won’t let him go quietly into retirement. While his fans may be delighted, they can hardly be surprised. Scotland’s favourite detective has already made three comebacks since he closed his first final case in Exit Music in 2007.

He was rediscovered five years later working as a “civilian” on cold cases in Standing in Another Man’s Grave; then came Saints of the Shadow Bible, followed by a collection of short stories last year, while Rankin was supposedly taking a year off. In one, written for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, a tour of a haunted house - given to Rebus as a retirement present by his colleague Siobhan Clarke - draws him inexorably back to the pathology lab, where he encounters his old colleague Dr Curt.

‘You’re supposed to be retired,’ Dr Curt said.

‘I am retired,’ Rebus stated.

‘I should, perhaps, Madame, tell you a little more about myself. I am Hercule Poirot.’ The revelation left Mrs Summerhayes unmoved. ‘What a lovely name,’ she said kindly. ‘Greek, isn’t it?’

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