Standing In Another Man's Grave, Rankin - B

                                         This is the twentieth novel in the police procedural series about Edinburgh Detective John Rebus.  Rankin has always done a good job filling in with color and background on the city, it's neighborhoods and southern Scotland.  Rebus is a lot like Alan Banks, mentioned earlier this month, only more so.    Banks drinks; Rebus is close to being a drunk.  Banks quit smoking; not Rebus.  Both act on hunches, but Rebus operates way outside of the normal lines of inquiry.  In this book, Rebus is retired, but working as a civilian on cold case files.  He gets an idea about one of the cases that leads him down a road that everyone considers a long shot.  In total defiance of just about every conceivable boss, he gets his man with a bit of extra-legal coaxing. Left open is his application to rejoin the force.