Ian Rankin's The Heights: What to Read While You Wait for Britain's Best Crime Thrillers

If you've seen Ian Rankin's name trending again this autumn, you're not imagining it. His new novel The Heights is due out on 8 October 2026, and it's already causing some confusion online, because it isn't a John Rebus book at all. This guide clears up exactly what The Heights is, who it's for, and where to go next if you want more UK crime fiction to fill the gap either side of publication day.

What is The Heights actually about?

The Heights is set in a glossy, ultra-exclusive London high-rise where the residents' carefully controlled lives are thrown into chaos when a night concierge is found dead in the lobby. The investigation is led not by Rebus, but by a new character, Detective Sergeant Gillian Gish, who has to pick apart the secrets of the building's wealthy occupants to find out what really happened.

Retailer and publisher listings describe it as the first standalone thriller from Rankin in two decades, and note that it is a brand-new full-length novel, expanded from a previously published short story called The Rise. In other words, this is a fresh, self-contained story built out from a shorter piece Rankin had already written, rather than a new chapter for an existing detective.

So it's not a new Rebus novel — what does that mean for readers?

It's an easy mistake to make, since Rankin is best known for his long-running Inspector Rebus series, and a new book from him naturally gets filed under "the next Rebus". But The Heights features an entirely new lead investigator in Gillian Gish, working a case with no connection to Edinburgh's Rebus and his old haunts. If you're specifically after more Rebus, the most recent book in that series is Midnight and Blue, published in 2024, which picked up the story after the events of A Heart Full of Headstones. The Heights sits alongside that series rather than continuing it.

That doesn't make The Heights any less worth reading if you enjoy Rankin's writing — a standalone from an author this experienced, built from a story he clearly wanted to expand, is a reasonable thing to be curious about. Just go in expecting a new cast of characters and a self-contained plot, not a Rebus instalment.

Why a standalone matters if you're already deep into a series

There's a particular appeal to standalone crime novels when you're used to reading long-running series. You get all of an established author's skill with pacing, red herrings and character work, but without needing to remember twenty-five books' worth of backstory to follow what's happening. For readers who've followed Rebus since the early Edinburgh-set novels, The Heights offers a chance to see what Rankin does with a completely fresh set-up: new detective, new city landmark, new cast of suspects, and no expectation that you've read anything that came before it.

It's also worth remembering that Rankin has written standalone fiction before, just not for some time, which is presumably why publishers are framing this one as his first standalone thriller in two decades. If that framing is accurate to your own reading history with him, The Heights is as good a moment as any to try him again even if you've fallen behind on Rebus.

Building your fiction shelf for autumn while you wait

Publication day is 8 October, which leaves a few weeks to stock up on other UK crime and thriller favourites. If you want to start (or revisit) Rankin's main series properly, his Rebus novels are widely sold as complete box sets, which is an easy way to work through the character's history in order without hunting down individual titles one at a time. You'll find these among our box sets and collections, alongside sets for plenty of other long-running crime writers.

If you want a different long-running detective series

Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike novels are a good match if you like character-driven crime with a strong central detective duo. The series runs The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil, Lethal White, Troubled Blood, The Ink Black Heart and The Running Grave, with the eighth book, The Hallmarked Man, published in September 2025. A further instalment has already been announced, so this is a series that's still actively growing rather than one you'll finish and be left waiting years for more.

It's a series that rewards reading in order, since Strike and his business partner Robin Ellacott's relationship develops steadily across the books, and the earlier cases are referenced as the pair's working partnership matures. If you're starting from scratch, picking up the whole run as a set is far simpler than trying to buy seven or eight individual titles separately. You can browse full runs of series like this, along with individual new releases, in our crime, thriller and mystery collection.

If you fancy something set in a claustrophobic, high-stakes location

Part of what makes The Heights interesting on paper is its setting — a single building where everyone is a suspect. If that appeals, look for other UK crime fiction built around a closed circle of characters and a confined location; it's a reliable subgenre for readers who enjoy puzzle-box plotting as much as procedural detail. Our fiction collection is a good starting point for browsing current UK crime and thriller releases by theme rather than just by author.

Buying new hardbacks without paying full RRP

New hardback thrillers from established authors are rarely cheap on publication day, which is where shopping around pays off. At LetsBuyBooks we sell brand-new copies — never used or ex-library stock — at reduced prices compared with RRP, with fast UK delivery, so you can pick up a new release or fill in gaps in a favourite series without waiting for the paperback. If you're planning ahead for Christmas, crime and thriller box sets also make a solid, ready-made gift for the reader in your life who works through a series methodically; you'll find plenty of options in our best books to gift collection.

Keeping track of new releases beyond this one

The Heights won't be the only notable crime release landing this autumn, and if you'd rather not rely on spotting announcements on social media, it's worth checking a dedicated new releases page every so often. Our new in collection is updated regularly with recently published titles across fiction and non-fiction, so you can catch fresh crime, thriller and mystery releases as they arrive rather than discovering them months later.

A few ways to plan your reading around The Heights

• New to Rankin? Start with a Rebus box set to understand why he's one of the UK's most established crime writers, then treat The Heights as a separate, standalone read once it's out.
• Already read all the Rebus books? The Heights is a good excuse to try a new voice in the genre while you wait, whether that's Galbraith's Strike series or another long-running detective set.
• Buying for someone else? A complete series in one box set avoids the guesswork of picking a single title and not knowing if they've read it already.
• Budget-conscious? Older instalments in any of these series are usually available well below RRP, so building up a full run doesn't have to mean paying cover price for every book.

Where to find these books

Whether you're pre-ordering The Heights for publication day, starting the Rebus series from book one, or working through Cormoran Strike in order, our crime, thriller and mystery collection brings together new releases and complete series in one place, all sold as brand-new copies at prices below RRP with fast UK delivery. It's a straightforward way to plan your next few months of reading without overpaying for any single title.