The Hanging Garden

Ian Rankin

In a couple of months of reading almost nothing save mysteries, The Hanging Garden stood out as the best of the lot. Rankin is capable of weaving clues into a narrative with the deftest hand in a British mystery author since Colin Wilson, and his characters are more than engaging enough; as with most series mysteries, reading them out of order is liable to drop the reader into the middle of a plotline, and so it is here. The soap opera quality is not, however, as intrusive as it is in, say, the Spenser novels of Robert Parker. Funny, unexpectedly sweet at times, and more contemplative than your usual mystery novel. Rankin is something of a change of pace for the mystery reader, and a refreshing one he is.