The Beat Goes On cover art

The Beat Goes On

The Complete Rebus Short Stories

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Beat Goes On

By: Ian Rankin
Narrated by: James Macpherson, Ian Rankin
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Including brand new material, this is the complete collection of Rebus short stories from the Sunday Times Number one best seller.

Over the years, Ian Rankin has amassed an incredible portfolio of short stories. Published in crime magazines, composed for events, broadcast on radio, they all share the best qualities of his phenomenally popular Rebus novels.

Brought together for the first time, and including brand-new material, this is the ultimate Rebus short-story collection and a must-have book for crime lovers and for Ian's millions of fans alike. No Rankin aficionado can go without it.

©2014 John Rebus Ltd (P)2014 Orion Publishing Group Anthologies & Short Stories Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Traditional Detectives Short Story Crime

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Rise cover art
A Litter of Bones: A Scottish Crime Thriller cover art
Detective Sebastian Clifford, Books 1-3 cover art
Rainey Nights cover art
Tears in Rain cover art
Laidlaw cover art
Whisky from Small Glasses cover art
The John Carter Trilogy of Edgar Rice Burroughs cover art
Heir Untamed cover art
A Feast of Carrion cover art
Gone to Ground ) cover art
A Lethal Frost cover art
Skinner's Rules cover art
Dig Two Graves cover art
Lola Is Missing cover art

Editor reviews

A brilliant assortment of the extraordinary Rebus mysteries have been collected into one unabridged audiobook of short stories, The Beat Goes On, written by Sunday Times number one best-selling author Ian Rankin and narrated by the ever-popular Scottish actor James Macpherson and Rankin himself. Mystery book fans and Rebus enthusiasts alike will enjoy these suspense-driven, tense and twisted storylines. Listen as Inspector Rebus hunts for well-hidden clues, chases elusive murderers through the shadows and brings justice to the endless victims. This is classic Rebus at his most daring and addictive. Available now from Audible.
All stars
Most relevant  
As ever utterly gripping, enjoyable, believable and fabulous. Well worth the listen plus great performances.

Superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the tv series, was alittle reticent when I first listened to this compilation.
There was no need, the characters were powerfully conveyed, brilliant!

Absorbing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

If you could sum up The Beat Goes On in three words, what would they be?

This book is very entertaining and the short stories keep you hooked and it never gets boring.

What other book might you compare The Beat Goes On to, and why?

Any of the other rebus books because they ashould Ranking is consistent in his writing.

What about Ian Rankin and James Macpherson ’s performance did you like?

I like the fact they had Scots performing.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Rebus

Any additional comments?

Good book.

Very entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Having read all the Rebus novels I was delighted to find this short story collection on Audible. The art of the detective and of his creator is concentrated in these masterly shorter pieces.
James Macpherson is good as Rebus though his Siobhan Clarke is a bit stilted. However I heartily recommend this recording- it will keep you gripped for hours

Enthralling Rankin short stories of Rebus

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
All you see when checking the contents list is a the usual suspect of numbered chapters.
WHY not name them according to the name of the self-contained individual story? To find it, potentially all chapters may need to be albeit briefly listened to for the ID of the story to be found.
When all it might have needed - taking all of several minutes' tops - would have been to type the story title into each chapter title field.

But No.Too much like work for Audible! After all, the punters will buy it anyway! And - we do. But that's no excuse.

The content is maybe not uniformly the best of Rebus, but these are mostly still pretty good overall. Best for those already knowing the main character's ways by having read at least some of the better novels.
But since Rankin's poorest stuff is mostly better than the best from some other popular crime writers - maybe all should read these regardless?

The reader does a decent job. Scottishness but not strictly Edinburgh. He falls down when pronouncing some small place names in Fife that, say, any Fifer would "LOL" to hear. Like CerDENden instead of CardenDEN. Although that might not appear in this collection, been a while since I listened to these. MacPherson's pretty good overall, especially when voicing Big Ger Cafferty. That's a man whose company I'd shrink away from, and MacPherson's vocalisation portrays that side of Cafferty to perfection. Again, that's more a generic comment on his reading rather than on this collection.

Care and lazy formatting by the publisher. Even so - some goodly Rebus, albeit in short form.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved it. Great short stories, involving a policeman whos character has built up over the years. Even though he is retired now still has that same swagger. Dont stop Rubus stories.

Main character.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Having listened to all of the Rebus novels on Audible this is great to have several short stories in one place

Great insight to Rebus & Rankin

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I like the Rebus novels but hey can be a bit hard going at times. These short tales are just right. Rebus never takes himself too seriously and the plot lines are just complex enough to engage without being overly complicated. Definitely recommended for Rebus fans. the author's piece about the development of the character is also very interesting.

Good fun and very enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
we have become familiar with John Rebus personified bt Ken Stott. try to read these without imagining the crumpled face and stocky body of the actor. Impossible. Great short stories great location.

Rebus the puzzle.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I had, being a Rebus fan, read many of these stories some years ago in book form. However, that didn't really take away from the enjoyment of having them read to me by James Macpherson, whose wonderful narration adds a whole new dimension to the printed book.

Naturally the short stories lack the complexity of the novels, but I think they stand up well in their own right. Some are of course better than others, but they all add glimpses to the fascinating character that is John Rebus and the interesting city that is Edinburgh.

Enjoyable easy listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews