The Hanging Garden (Rankin novel)

Detective Inspector John Rebus, stationed at St. Leonard's in Edinburgh, is involved in four cases which turn out to be intertwined. He is removed from the investigation of the murder of "Mr Taystee," an ice-cream vendor, and assigned instead to investigate Lintz, a possible Nazi war criminal living quietly in Edinburgh (his history is based on the World War II massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane in France^[1]). His conversations with Lintz about guilt and responsibility cause Rebus to recall being stationed in Belfast at the beginning of the Troubles. Rebus also volunteers to be the liaison with Crime Squad's surveillance of up-and-coming gangster Tommy Telford. Finally, he stumbles into the role of protector of a traumatised Bosnian prostitute, who has associations both with Telford and with a Chechen gangster named Tarawicz -"Mr Pink Eyes"- operating out of Newcastle; she leads the police to the discovery that Japanese "businessmen" (one of whom turns out to be a Yakuza member) are associated with Telford. 'Big Ger' Cafferty, who is still serving his time in Barlinnie Prison, is thought to be engineering attacks on Telford, to maintain control of crime in Edinburgh, and Rebus and his colleagues must track the growing gang war. Rebus's insights lead the Crime Squad to mount an operation against Telford using Rebus's old friend (and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor) Jack Morton, who is killed as the operation goes wrong.

Rebus' daughter Sammy (Samantha) is knocked down in what looks like a deliberate hit-and-run. Through most of the novel, she is unconscious, with her mother Rhona and, often, Rebus's ex Patience Aitken at her bedside. Rebus visits her hospital room but again and again he leaves to investigate or confront the various gang leaders and members. Although he resists Telford's assumption that he is part of 'Big Ger' Cafferty's team, he asks Cafferty to find the driver of the hit-and-run, certain that someone was trying to send him a message. In the end, this is not the case.

There are major differences between the novel and the TV adaptation; these include the omission of the storyline involving a suspected Nazi war criminal.

The title refers to The Cure's song "The Hanging Garden". ("Mr Pink Eyes" is another song by The Cure.) It also evokes the World War II massacre Rebus is investigating, which involved hanging the town leaders from trees. Each of the three books has a title drawn from the song "The Hanging Garden."

The novel begins with a short, two-chapter Book 1 in which Rebus says good-bye to Sammy on Guy Fawkes night and, a few hours later, finds her unconscious in the hospital after a hit-and-run. Book 2 occupies chapters 3-11 and provides a flashback filling in Rebus's various cases leading up to Guy Fawkes night, including persuading Sammy to provide shelter for the Bosnian prostitute. Book 3, which takes up the rest of the novel, returns to Rebus on November 6 and follows him as he gathers up the loose ends and provides the insights which lead to (potentially) dismantling not only Telford's but Tarawicz's gangs.

Interspersed between the books are italicized vignettes with scenes from Rebus's marriage: first, an argument with his wife, then a day when he failed to watch Sammy at the beach, then Sammy's birth, and, finally, learning that his wife was pregnant.