Exit Music-Ian Rankin

Exit Music
Ian Rankin
Little, Brown, Sep 2008, $24.99
ISBN 9780316057585

For the first time he can remember Edinburgh Police Inspector John Rebus is worried about the future. In ten days, the long time cop is turning sixty, which means mandatory retirement although he does not feel ready to leave the force.

Still, Rebus plans to finish his last cases although he only has ten working days left. His prime investigation is the murder of Russian poet Alexander Todorov; in which he and his associate Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke find no motive, but a horde of odd conspiracies bantered about that include Russian businessmen, Scottish bankers and local politicians rallying behind an independent Scotland. The case turns even more bizarre when a second homicide occurs; the victim taped a recital of Todorov reading his work. Increasingly the inquiry points towards Edinburgh crime boss “Big Ger” Cafferty, but finding proof to pin two murders on the mobster in under ten days seem impossible.

The investigation takes a back seat to Rebus’ final police case before going into forced retirement. Thus, as good as the previous entries are, this may be the most personal as the emotions are high as fans wonder what will their hero do. EXIT MUSIC is an excellent complicated police procedural as the great John Rebus works what is his apparent last police case.

Harriet Klausner