Rebus investigates a cold case that just turned red hot. As he settles into an uneasy retirement, Rebus has given up his favorite vices. There's just one habit he can't shake: he can't let go of an unsolved case. It's the only pastime he has left and up until now, it's the only one that wasn't threatening to kill him. But when Rebus starts reexamining the facts behind the long-ago murder of a glamorous woman at a luxurious hotel - on the same night a famous rock star and his entourage where also staying there - the past comes roaring back to life with a vengeance. And as soon as Rebus starts asking questions about the long forgotten crime, a fresh body materializes. His inquiries reunite him with his old pals-Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox-as they attempt to uncover the financial chicanery behind the savage beating of an upstart gangster, a crime that suggests the notorious old school crime boss Big Ger Cafferty has taken to retirement as poorly as Rebus himself. As he connects the mysteries of the past to the those of the present, Rebus learns - the hard way - that he's not the only one with an insatiable curiosity about what happened in that hotel room forty years ago, and that someone will stop at nothing to ensure that the crime remains ancient history. A twisted tale of power, corruption, and bitter rivalries in the dark heart of Edinburgh, Rather Be the Devil showcases Rankin and Rebus at their unstoppable best.

Skip James (1902&–1969) was perhaps the most creative and idiosyncratic of all blues musicians. Drawing on hundreds of hours of conversations with James himself, Stephen Calt here paints a dark and unforgettable portrait of a man untroubled by his own murderous inclinations, a man who achieved one moment of transcendent greatness in a life haunted by failure. And in doing so, Calt offers new insights into the nature of the blues, the world in which it thrived, and its fate when that world vanished.

The brand new John Rebus thriller from the iconic Number One bestseller Ian Rankin: one of the must-read books of the year. 'Rebus in jail and better than ever ... Surprising, gripping and witty. Rankin has taken the police procedural and transformed into an epic character study of a man and his city ... Nobody does it better.' THE TIMES * * * * * JOHN REBUS SPENT HIS LIFE AS A DETECTIVE PUTTING EDINBURGH'S MOST DEADLY CRIMINALS BEHIND BARS. NOW, HE'S JOINED THEM. As new allies and old enemies circle, and the days and nights bleed into each other, even the legendary detective struggles to keep his head. That is, until a murder at midnight in a locked cell presents a new mystery. They say old habits die hard... However, this is a case where the prisoners and the guards are all suspects, and everyone has something to hide. With no badge, no authority and no safety net, Rebus walks a tightrope - with his life on the line. But how do you find a killer in a place full of them? * * * * * PRAISE FOR MIDNIGHT AND BLUE: 'Unforgettable ... Proves that Rebus is one of the most remarkable characters in crime fiction.' DAILY MAIL 'With every novel, Rankin leaves us wanting more. Midnight and Blue is no exception. As Rebus ages, he becomes ever more human, ever more relatable, and the books become even better... This is unmissable.' MICK HERRON, the Sunday Times Number One Bestseller 'Midnight & Blue is a triumph. Rebus as you've never seen him before and Rankin at his best.' ELLY GRIFFITHS, the Sunday Times Number One Bestseller 'A taut, claustrophobic thriller, that puts a Golden Age twist on a modern-day tale. The perfect book to keep Rebus fans clanging their tin cups against the prison bars, until the riot kicks off...' STUART MACBRIDE, the Sunday Times Number One Bestseller 'Kept me up reading until long after midnight. Blew me away. Absolutely brilliant, as always.' JILL MANSELL, the Sunday Times Bestseller 'Loved this tense, pacy thriller, jam-packed with action but also a surprising vulnerability.' B. A. PARIS, the Sunday Times Bestseller **** PRAISE FOR THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER IAN RANKIN: 'Ian Rankin is a genius' LEE CHILD 'Rebus is one of British crime writing's greatest characters: alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse' DAILY MAIL 'Whatever he writes, it will be worth reading ... Rankin has redefined the genre' GUARDIAN 'The arrival of a Rankin novel remains one of life's pleasures' EXPRESS 'Rankin is a phenomenon' SPECTATOR 'Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best' SCOTSMAN 'The king of crime fiction' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Great fiction, full stop' THE TIMES **** Ian Rankin's A HEART FULL OF HEADSTONES was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10th October 2022 and w/c 1st May 2023

And he sat him down wearily by the side of the road. Wearily, for he had journeyed far that day. He was footsore, and his bodily powers were nearly exhausted by reason of the want and privation he had undergone. His looks were haggard, and a pathetic pall, gloomy and tearful, hung and floated around him, invisible to, but sensibly felt by, all who lingered near, or gazed upon him. A sorrowful man was he. And as he sat there by the roadside, he leaned his head upon the staff which he held in his hand; and as he bowed him down, the great salt tears gushed from between his fingers, and watered the ground at his feet. In other days the cypress, plant of sorrow, sprung up there, and throve in sad and mournful beauty, as if to mark and guard the spot whereon the strong man had lifted up his voice and wept aloud—once upon a time. This was many years ago; and this was the occasion on which I became acquainted with the personage who figures so remarkably in this volume. At that time the writer practically accepted, but mentally disbelieved, all the religious and psychologic faiths of Christendom; and, had any man even hinted at certain mysterious possibilities that have since then been verified and demonstrated, I should most certainly have laughed in his face, and have reckoned him up as a first-class fool or idiot. Things have changed since then. He was a man of middle height, was neither stout nor slender, but, when in full flesh, was a happy medium between the two. His head and brain were large, and, from certain peculiarities of form, really much more massive than they appeared. The skull was long and narrow at the base, especially about the ears; but above that line the brain was deep, broad and high, indicating great powers ofendurance, with but moderate physical force, it being clearly apparent that the mental structure sustained itself to a great degree at the expense of the muscles, his nervous system, as in all such organizations, being morbidly acute and sensitive. There was, naturally or organically, nothing about him either coarse, brutal, low or vulgar, and if, in the race of life, he exhibited any of those bad qualities, it was attributable to the rough circumstances attendant upon him, and the treatment he received from the world. By nature he was open, frank, benevolent and generous to a fault, and of these traits men availed themselves to his sorrow. With abundant capacity to successfully grapple with the most profound and abstruse questions of philosophy or metaphysics, yet this man was totally incompetent to conduct matters of the least business, requiring even a very moderate financial ability. Such are nature’s contradictions, such her law of compensation.

Contents: Introduction to the First Edition; the Strange Man; His Early Days - The Strange Legend; a Spectral Visitant; a Very Strange Story - Ettelavar; Love. Eulampea - The Beautiful; Napoleon III & the Rosicrucians; about the Rosicrucians; Who.

This autobiographical-cum-philosophical journal is effectively the sequel to 'Limitless' (2012), since it continues from where the previous such project leaves off, being in many respects its logical corollary. Not only is the autobiography taken beyond the situation that existed towards the close of 2012, but so, too, in a number of ways is the philosophy, so that one gets a fuller perspective on both the subjective and objective, the personal and vocational aspects of the writer's life that both complements and resolves the subject matter of its prequel, taking it to a new level in a similar, albeit stylistically different, vein to the way that 'Fixed Limits' (1976) went beyond 'Changing Worlds' (1976) and somehow resolved many of its outstanding issues, since effectively existing within the context of a 'changed world' from that in which John O'Loughlin had previously lived. – A Centretruths Editorial