The Crime Fiction Lover mailbag was very kind to us yesterday, with the arrival of a novel that Ian Rankin fans are bound to be excited about. Yes, we’ve got our hands on Standing in Another Man’s Grave which sees the return of Rankin’s retired Edinburgh copper, Rebus. But that’s not all. If you’ve been forming an attachment to Rankin’s latest detective hero, Malcolm Fox, you’re in for a double treat because he’s also a key character in the book.

Rebus first appeared 25 years ago, and retired five years ago in Exit Music. According to the blurb for Standing in Another Man’s Grave he seems to be having trouble settling into civilian life and while he may have bent the rules on the force, perhaps in trying to crack a 10-year-old cold case he’s going to actually break them. The temptation might be all the stronger as he buddies up with former adversary, the mob boss Big Ger Cafferty. People are disappearing, and Rebus thinks it’s connected to the old case. The police don’t seem interested and his interference becomes increasingly trying for his ex-colleague Siobhan Clarke. It might just land him in hot water with Malcolm Fox of the Edinburgh police’s internal affairs unit. However if he’s right, all of their lives are on the line.

With characters deftly developed by Rankin over the years now brought together in a new storyline, it sounds like it has everything fans of the author will want. The uncorrected proof we’ve been sent is a real treat – it’s a perfect-bound paperback with a high gloss dust jacket that looks cut from an old Ordnance Survey map of the Scottish Highlands. Just near Dornoch Firth are four splats of blood. Could this be a clue? We can’t wait to find out.

Standing in Another Man’s Grave will be released on 8 November. You can pre-order your copy below.