THE HEIGHTS by IAN RANKIN
Ian Rankin is in good form with his first standalone crime novel in over two decades. Drawing on a limited release short story (The Rise) from 2023, The Heights (Orion, 8 October 2026), is a totally engaging police mystery that grips to the last line.
Rankin skilfully places the reader in the centre of the action from the first page. DS Gillian Gish is on call when a murdered night concierge is found in the lobby of an ultra-exclusive apartment building, called The Heights, and arrives shortly after the discovery. The Heights is a gleaming, high-end high-rise that looms over London’s Hyde Park. Newly built from steel and smoked glass, and adorned with expensive artwork, it is a billionaire’s playground offering sumptuous suites for the global elite. Included among the residents, are a very popular music star, a dodgy Russian oligarch, a reality tv actress, a foreign heiress, the wife of a notorious career criminal and the building’s stressed developer who is trying to raise the money for an even more exclusive version of The Heights.
As Gillian and her more senior partner, DI Jack Milton, work their way through the suspects, both in the building and outside, they come increasing under pressure from the media, their political masters and the influential residents of The Heights who do not take kindly to finding their gilded lifestyles under police scrutiny
The Heights is a smoothly written crime novel that showcases Rankin’s usual strengths of clever plotting, sharp social commentary, vivid pictures of the location where the crime occurs, gritty characters and a wry sense of humour. The detective pairing of Gillian and the nearing retirement Milton are a good match, and the banter between them works well. As the book progresses, we come to understand Gillian better, particularly her demanding home life and her social background, and we get to witness her darker sides. As with all his novels, Rankin skilfully fleshes out his characters without ever slowing the pace, and the story moves steadily to a very surprising outcome.
As a mystery, The Heights works very well with good twists and carefully placed clues that avoid detection until Gillian pulls them all together. I thought that one of the early surprising developments was perhaps foreshadowed a little clumsily, but really it is hard to fault the carefulness of Rankin’s plotting.
In all, The Heights is another masterclass in British crime writing by Rankin, with more depth than most books of ilk, and a new detective in Gillian Gish who I would like to meet again.
Note: readers of The Rise, will also find plenty of interest, and and some surprises, in The Heights.
The Heights is currently available in most locations, apart from the United States, where the hardback release is not until early November 2026.