Synopsis

The 17th Inspector Rebus novel.
It's late autumn in Edinburgh and late autumn in the career of Detective Inspector John Rebus. As he tries to tie up some loose ends before retirement, a murder case intrudes. A dissident Russian poet has been found dead in what looks like a mugging gone wrong. By apparent coincidence, a high-level delegation of Russian businessmen is in town - and everyone is determined that the case should be closed quickly and clinically.

But the further they dig, the more Rebus and DS Siobhan Clarke become convinced that they are dealing with something more than a random attack - especially after a particularly nasty second killing. Meanwhile, a brutal and premeditated assault on a local gangster sees Rebus in the frame. Has the Inspector taken a step too far in tying up those loose ends? Only a few days shy of the end to his long, inglorious career, will Rebus even make it that far?

Reviews

'Rankin has an unparalleled ability to draw in the reader and make us feel every knock and setback in Inspector Rebus's red-raw life. Rarely has that talent been better displayed than in Exit Music which sees the flawed but redeemingly honest central character staggering towards the finishing line of an inglorious career that has utterly defined his life' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
 
"The gritty Scots narration intensifies the dramatic darkness and contemporary punch of Rankin's writing." Rachel Redford, THE OBSERVER
 
'the main theme of the book is civic corruption by the power of money, money from whatever source. Always up to the minute, Rankin has Russian oligarchs or something similar lurking on the streets of Edinburgh and the murder of a Russian poet is directly counterpointed to the death throes of the real life Russian, Litvinenko... As Rankin percipiently observes, the problem is the overworld not the underworld - words which might well sum up the philosophy of Rankin's whole ouevre' Antonia Fraser, THE SPECTATOR

About the Author

Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh and has since been employed as grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist and punk musician. His first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, was published in 1987 and the Rebus books have now been translated into 22 languages and are increasingly popular in the USA. Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is a past winner of the prestigious Chandler-Fulbright Award, as well two CWA short-story 'Daggers' and the 1997 CWA Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction for Black & Blue, which was also shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America 'Edgar' award for best novel. Dead Souls, the tenth novel in the series, was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger in 1999. Black & Blue, The Hanging Garden, Dead Souls and Mortal Causes have been televised on ITV, starring John Hannah as Inspector Rebus. His 3-part documentary series on the subject of evil was broadcast on Channel 4 in December 2002. An Alumnus of the Year at Edinburgh University, he has also been awarded two honorary doctorates, one from the University of Abertay Dundee and one, more recently, from the University of St Andrews. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Golden Jubilee Birthday Honours List in June 2002 and is now the UK's number one best-selling crime writer. Ian Rankin lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two sons. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation