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2000s: Everyone has something to hide. Everyone has secrets.Nobody is innocent
In a House of Lies
What you need to know before your trail
A missing private investigator is found, locked in a car hidden deep in the woods. Worse still – both for his family and the police – is that his body was in an area that had already been searched.
Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is part of a new inquiry, combing through the mistakes of the original case. There were always suspicions over how the investigation was handled and now – after a decade without answers – it’s time for the truth.
Every officer involved must be questioned, and it seems everyone on the case has something to hide, and everything to lose. But there is one man who knows where the trail may lead – and that it could be the end of him: John Rebus.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
The Rebus way to see Edinburgh
There’s a few police stations which have a major role to play in the novel and they tell a story of their own. Leith’s is down by this historic docks which have now been largely regenerated and boasts bars, restaurants and more. Not that Rebus has time to do any of that in this novel with its heavy caseload.
Police Scotland HQ aka “The Big House”
Situated very close to Comely Bank a suburb of the city where one of the characters used to live and where much of the investigation takes place.
The Meadows
Back in to the city and Rebus would recommend The Meadows, a lush green expanse of freedom outside of the city. Houses and impressive buildings all around but when you’re up to your neck in a criminal case, it’s a good place to relax and walk your dog.
Phoneboxes
There’s not many left in any city nowadays and certain not the old fashioned ones but there’s a clue to be followed and so Clarke heads out to find one. John Knox’s house is a good location as is the nearby statute at the other end of the old town’s Royal Mile of Grey Friar’s Bobby. Both are definitely worth a visit. Maybe the Bobby looks like Brillo, Rebus’s dog. The John Knox house is of course a good literary location to visit and should not be missed!
Broughton Road
A place often mentioned as being the street where there are lots of late night rowdy revellers. The bars and chips shops nearby are where Rebus might grab a late night snack. Clarke lives nearby.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
I can’t believe this is the 22nd Rebus novel! He might be getting on a bit, but he’s still up there sorting out the criminals of Edinburgh like no body’s business. He’s got a case with serious bite in this novel and it takes him across the city and to the woods where a body is found..
Poretoun woods is luckily fictional but it sounded and felt so real, I did have to look for them even though I lived in Edinburgh for ages. That’s what Ian Rankin does to my head. He messes it up in the best way possible with showing me the darkest corners of the city which either seem real or reveal their dark sides I’d never noticed before.
The dead body in this case, with his feet in handcuffs turns out to be gay private investigator, Stuart Bloom, who disappeared in 2006. There were troubles of land grabs and a fight over whether a film studio or a golf course should win out. A cold case now has suddenly become very hot in deed…
There’s not just a house of lies but a whole city of them it would seem. I particularly liked getting to know Clarke more and he traumas and her work over a cold case.That was a good story in itself! Getting cold calls from mysterious phoneboxes in the city gave the whole thing a feeling of being watched and tracked.
Rebus might be getting older but the humour of the books isn’t. The police from the original case for example were nicknamed the Chuggabugs from the Wacky Races. And faces from the past return in the form of Morris Gerald Cafferty, Big Ger, the gangster and hardman.
A solid case for Rebus and a solid read for fans everywhere.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: In a House of Lies
Destination : Edinburgh Author/Guide: Ian Rankin Departure Time: 2018
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