by Ian Rankin
Part of Inspector Rebus, book 21
First published 2017
John Rebus has traded his old vices for retirement, but he cannot abandon cold cases. He picks apart the decades-old murder of a glamorous woman killed at a luxury hotel the same night a famous rock star stayed there. When Rebus begins asking questions about the forgotten crime, a new body appears. His investigation pulls him back together with Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox as they uncover financial corruption behind the brutal beating of a young gangster. The violence points to Big Ger Cafferty, the old school crime boss who has adapted to retirement no better than Rebus. As Rebus connects past mysteries to present ones, he discovers others share his deadly curiosity about that hotel room forty years ago. Someone will kill to keep those secrets buried in Edinburgh's criminal underworld.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, cold-case, found-family
Setting: Edinburgh
Period: 1970s, 2010s
311 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company