Ian Rankin

John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. Although it's not the first time the legendary detective has taken the law into his own hands, it could well be the last. What drove a good man to cross the line? Or have times changed, and the rules with them? Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke faces Edinburgh's most explosive case in years, as a corrupt cop goes missing after claiming...

A missing private investigator is found, locked in a car hidden deep in the woods. Worse still - both for his family and the police - is that his body was in an area that had already been searched. Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is part of a new inquiry, combing through the mistakes of the original case. There were always suspicions over how the investigation was handled, and now - after a decade without answers - it's time for the truth. Every...

Retirement doesn't suit John Rebus. He wasn't made for hobbies, holidays or home improvements. Being a cop is in his blood. So when DI Siobhan Clarke asks for his help on a case, Rebus doesn't need long to consider his options. Clarke's been investigating the death of a senior lawyer whose body was found along with a threatening note. On the other side of Edinburgh, Big Ger Cafferty - Rebus's long-time nemesis - has received an identical note and...

Mary Miller is an outcast. As a girl she had plunged into the hot burn - a torrent of chemical run-off from the local mine. Fished out, half-dead, any sympathy for her disappeared when the boy who pushed her in died in a mining accident two weeks later. From then on, she was regarded with suspicion by her God-fearing community. Years later, now a mother, Mary is caught up in a faltering affair with a schoolteacher. Meanwhile Sandy, her bastard...

Mike Mackenzie is a self-made man with too much time on his hands and a bit of the devil in his soul. He is looking for something to liven up the days and perhaps give new meaning to his existence when a chance encounter offers him the opportunity to do just that. He is going to commit the perfect crime.

July 2005, and the G8 leaders have gathered in Scotland. With daily marches, demonstrations and scuffles, the police are at full stretch. Detective Inspector John Rebus, however, has been sidelined...until the apparent suicide of an MP coincides with clues that a serial killer may be on the loose. The authorities are keen to hush up both, for fear of overshadowing a meeting of global importance - but Rebus has never been one to stick to the rules....

John Rebus has to face up to the most savage and senseless crime imaginable, one in which all his knowledge of human motivation is rendered useless and one that will take him to the heart of human darkness.

Rebus is buried under a pile of paperwork generated by his investigations into a possible war criminal resident in Edinburgh, until gangster Tommy Telford moves in on Big Ger Cafferty's turf. Rebus's local knowledge then becomes vital.

Struggling through another Edinburgh winter Rebus finds himself sucked into a web of intrigue that throws up more questions than answers.

When a brutally tortured body is discovered in Edinburgh during the Festival, Rebus suspects sectarian activists. The idea of a terrorist atrocity in a city full of tourists is unthinkable. Then the victim turns out to be the son of a notorious gangster.