Ian Rankin's new book, THE BEAT GOES ON, is a collection of short stories and two novellas. The selections are a homage to his series character, DI John Rebus, and range from when Rebus was new to the force and learning his craft at the feet of older, more experienced policemen, to his evolution as the best cop on the force.

The book rests on one of the first signs that Rebus wants to be "one of the boys." At the end of the first piece, he is having a conversation with a colleague who then inaugurates him into the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­"Saints of the Shadow Bible" (which became an extraordinary novel of the same name).

"Ian Rankin was and is at the pinnacle of his writing in this heady collection. All of the stories are tightly wrought and entertaining. He moves ahead at great speed to deliver work that is potently inspiring, bringing readers a gem in each one."

Rebus is the kind of policeman to whom younger men look up; in this case, that person is Constable Brian Holmes. Throughout the narratives, readers can see how his mind works and why he is so successful. Also interesting are the comparisons from Dashiell Hammett to Shakespeare. And he doesn't stop with them; he continues to pay homage to Tom Wolfe, Agatha Christie, Mickey Spillane and more.

Of course, a mystery book is going to show the dark underside of the place where it is set. Rankin is masterful at describing what goes on beneath the surface of Edinburgh and its surroundings. We see through the eyes of Rebus as he discovers new and mostly heinous scenes. He becomes more and more cynical, and his gifts for "seeing" what is behind the curtain grow to allow him to become the best cop he can be.

Each of the stories in THE BEAT GOES ON stands perfectly alone, but it’s also comfortable to read among its "relatives." Each individual reader will most likely pick and choose among them and find his or her own favorites. This reviewer chose not to do that so as not to give any one story more weight than the others. The reader is the one who should have that opportunity.

Ian Rankin was and is at the pinnacle of his writing in this heady collection. All of the stories are tightly wrought and entertaining. He moves ahead at great speed to deliver work that is potently inspiring, bringing readers a gem in each one. Despite appearing in magazines and other venues, THE BEAT GOES ON is fresh in the sense that the plots are arranged so that Rebus has to solve the crime as he did throughout his career. Rankin fans should add this tome to their other books in the series immediately.