The Naming of the Dead

January 22, 2007
At the start of Rankin's overly complex 18th book to feature Edinburgh's Insp. John Rebus (after 2005's Fleshmarket Alley
), Ben Webster, a Scottish delegate to the Group of Eight summit, dies suspiciously a couple of days before the world's leaders gather in Scotland in 2005. While his colleagues are preoccupied by ensuring security at the conference, Rebus is devoting his energy to the murder of Cyril Colliar, a recently released violent sex offender. No one really cares about the case except for Rebus, and that's mainly because Colliar was muscle for Edinburgh's crime boss "Big Ger" Cafferty, with whom Rebus has tangled in earlier novels. Rebus is more than willing to flout authority in his dogged pursuit of Colliar's killer, who may be a vigilante intent on punishing rapists. Webster's death, never wholly resolved, does connect with Rebus's investigation, but the link is tenuous at best. Rankin deftly captures the mad circus—the media, the security, the demonstrators—of the G8 summit, but this background muddies the narrative waters. He's at his best when he focuses on Rebus and the city of Edinburgh itself. 6-city author tour.

July 30, 2007
James Gale proves an excellent choice to narrate this latest entry to the long-running Inspector Rebus series. It's 2005 and Rebus is mourning the unexpected death of his brother. It is a death that will cause a lot of introspective musings for the detective as he sees his retirement edging over the horizon. But soon Rebus and his partner are after a possible serial killer who is doing in former sex offenders. Add to that the apparent suicide of an MP and the horror of the London subway bombings, and you have another first-rate Scottish mystery, that is only enhanced by Gale's performance. Gale's gruff, gravelly delivery brings just the right amount of world weariness to his characterization of Rebus. With the rich array of accents at his disposal, Gale is equally effective in his portrayal of Rankin's supporting characters, especially the smug amoral crime boss Cafferty, who comes across as a smirking, self-satisfied alley cat with fresh bird feathers in his whiskers. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 22).