Detective John Rebus May Be Retired, But He Refuses to Give Up the Job

Edinburg detective John Rebus is officially retired and in the middle of a health scare. He's quit smoking and cut back on his drinking, but then a forty-year-old murder that was never solved captures his attention and he's off to the races again, even if he's not running quite as fast as he used to.

The victim was a beautiful married woman named Maria Turquand who had a date to meet her lover in a luxurious hotel. She was found strangled to death, but most of the obvious suspects had iron-clad alibis. Adding to the confusion was the fact that a famous rock star was staying at the hotel that day, and the place was a circus. In the end, there were too many possible suspects and too little evidence, and the case was never solved.

Rebus is recounting the mystery to his new lover over dinner one night in the restaurant of the hotel where the murder happened. This piques his curiosity and he starts digging into the old files on his own. No sooner does he do so, than someone close to the original crime is killed. Someone, it appears, would not like to see Maria's killer found.

At the same time Rebus begins digging into the Turquand case, an up and coming mobster named Darryl Christie is badly beaten outside his home. The case falls to Rebus's former understudy, Siobahn Clarke, and it appears that Rebus's old nemesis Big Ger Cafferty might have been involved. Rebus thus worms his was into Siobahn's investigation and is soon back on the job, albeit without a badge.

Finally, Rebus's adversary-turned grudging friend, Malcolm Fox, has received a big promotion and is working financial crimes. He's assigned to a money laundering investigation that appears to involve the aforementioned Darryl Christie. Almost immediately, his case is tied into Clarke's, and Rebus invites himself into that investigation as well.

The result is a very intricate but intriguing plot in which Rebus, Clarke and Fox combine forces in an effort to chase down any number of bad guys and resolve a number of complicated crimes. It's great fun watching them work together and the interaction among the three and their various targets is the highlight of the book. Rebus may be retired, but he still just keeps getting better and better.