From bestselling Ian Rankin, winner of the 1997 CWA Macallan Gold Dagger for fiction for Black & Blue, come the early Inspector Rebus novels, gathered in one volume for the first time.
KNOTS & CROSSES: Two girls have been abducted and brutally murdered. Now a third is missing. Detective Sergeant John Rebus, his own young daughter spirited away south by his disenchanted wife, is one of the policemen hunting the killer. And then the messages begin to arrive: knotted string and matchstick crosses - taunting Rebus with pieces of a puzzle only he can solve ...
HIDE & SEEK: A junkie lies dead in an Edinburgh squat. Just another addict, until Inspector Rebus begins to chip away at the indifference, treachery, deceit and sleaze that lurk behind the façade of the city familiar to tourists. And only Rebus seems to care about a death that looks more like murder every day, a death that appeals to the darkest corners of his mind.
TOOTH & NAIL: Drafted down to the Big Smoke thanks to a supposed expertise in the modus operandi of serial killers, Inspector Rebus is on the trail of a man who, due to his penchant for taking a bite from each of his victims, is known as the Wolfman. When Rebus is offered a profile of the Wolfman by an attractive lady psychologist, it seems too good an opportunity to turn down. But in finding an ally, he may have given his enemies an easy means of attack ...
Industry Reviews
Many consider Rankin the most important crime fiction practitioner in Britain (never, of course, forgetting that his novels depict a brilliantly drawn Scottish milieu). This cleverly conceived volume collects three of the early Rebus adventures. Rankin's crackling dialogue, the hard-hitting characterization and the brilliantly realized locales are present in all three, Hide and Seek being the most distinguished. In his customary laconic way, Rebus deals with the abduction and murder of two girls in Knots and Crosses, and a dark mystery that begins with the death of an Edinburgh junkie is the subject of Hide and Seek. Rebus is drafted to London for the compelling Tooth and Nail. Reading all three in succession, it's striking to note how rarely Rankin repeats himself: the plotting is always fresh and newly minted, with Rebus obliged to solve satisfyingly labyrinthine mysteries. If you've already read the later novels, this is the perfect chance to catch up on the early books. But if you realize that an introduction to Scotland's most intuitively brilliant copper is overdue, there's simply no better place to start than in this highly collectable volume. (Kirkus UK)