The last people to die in Mary King's Close had been plague victims. But that was in the 1700s. Now a body has been discovered, brutally tortured and murdered in Edinburgh's buried city. Inspector John Rebus, ex army, spots a paramilitary link, but how can this be true? It is August in Edinburgh, the Festival is in full swing. No one wants to contemplate terrorism in the throng ing city streets. Special Branch are interested, however, and Rebus finds himself seconded to an elite police unit with the mission of smashing whatever cell may exist. But the victim turns out to be a gangster's son, and the gangster wants revenge on his own terms. Soon Rebus finds himself in a non man'sland where friendly fire is as likely to score a hit as anything lauched by the unseen enemy.

Las mujeres más peligrosas son aquellas que resultan irresistibles. ¿Qué hace peligrosa a una mujer? Su gran belleza, su encanto, su inteligencia, la manera en que se aparta el cabello de los ojos, o el modo de reírse. Puede tener conciencia absoluta de su poder, o desconocerlo por completo. Utilizarlo comoa rma o protegerse detrás de él. La intención y el propósito no aumentan ni disminuyen el poder, y ése es mayor peligro de todos los que son seducidos y sometidos por él.

Julio de 2005: todo el mundo tiene los ojos puestos en Escocia. Los selectos dirigentes de los países del G8 se reúnen en la capital y las marchas de protesta, manifestaciones callejeras y refriegas diarias tienen desbordada a la policía. Pero un agente continúa en excedente al margen de todo. Al inspector Rebus le dejan marginado por temor a que cree problemas a la superioridad en estas cruciales circunstancias. Pero todo cambia a raíz de la caída nocturna de un joven político desde las murallas del Castillo de Edimburgo, hecho que sitúa a Rebus en primer plano. Hay que demostrar el suicidio, y rápido, para que no robe páginas al acontecimiento principal. Pero el caso queda rápidamente ensombrecido por otro peligro más mortífero. Una serie de misteriosas claves dejadas en un bosque cercano en las afueras de Edimburgo comienzan a apuntar a un asesino en serie, un criminal dedicado a matar a violadores recién puestos en libertad.Las autoridades se apresuran a que no trascienda ninguno de los dos casos por temor a que desplacen el interés informativo de una reunión de tan global importancia. Pero Rebus no es de los que se atengan al reglamento y cuando su colega, la agente Siobhan Clarke, se encuentra envuelta en desentrañar la identidad del antidisturbios que agredió a su madre, todo parece indicar que Rebus y Clarke van a verse enfrentados en un conflicto y, en consecuencia, antes de que concluya la agitada semana, tendrán que adoptar decisiones que les pueden afectar para siempre.

Dos inocentes niñas han sido secuestradas y asesinadas en Edimburgo para asombro de la opinión pública, que se ha visto conmocionada ante tal crimen.El veterano inspector John Rebus, alcohólico y fumador empedernido, tomará parte en la investigación cuando una tercera menor desaparezca bajo las mismas circunstancias.Con un turbulento pasado y un estilo de vida totalmente desestructurado, Rebus deberá dejar a parte sus problemas personales para centrarse en la resolución de un caso que podría convertirse en el más dramático suceso que pueda recordarse en toda Escocia. Pronto el asesino que todos buscan comenzará a enviar una serie de pistas que quizá solo Rebus podrá llegar a resolver.

SOMEONE IS STRIPPING JACK NAKED… Gregor Jack, MP, well like, young, married to the fiery Elizabeth to the outside world a very public sucess story. But Jack's carefully nurtured career plans take a tumble after a 'mistake' during a police raid on a notorious Edinburgh brothel. Then Elizabeth disappears, a couple of bodies float into viewwhere they shouldn't, and a lunatic speaks from his asylum… With his wife missing, his job on the line, and his sanity in doubt, Gregor Jack is ripe for revenge.

W Edynburgu zaginęła mała dziewczynka. Prawdopodobnie czeka ją taki sam los jak dwie pozostałe ofiary brutalnego mordercy – śmierć przez uduszenie sznurkiem z zawiązanymi supłami. John Rebus, detektyw nadużywający alkoholu i papierosów, jest jednym z wielu policjantów poszukujących choćby najmniejszego śladu mordercy. W tym samym czasie do mieszkania detektywa zaczynają docierać listy z zapętlonymi kawałkami sznurka i skrzyżowanymi zapałkami. Owe tajemnicze wiadomości, które początkowo nie wzbudzają podejrzeń, a jedynie irytują Rebusa, przywołują mroczne i z trudem wyrzucone z pamięci wspomnienia z pobytu w wojsku. Czy właśnie tutaj tkwi rozwiązanie zagadki porwań dziewczynek?

'Mustn't complain' – but people always do… Nobody likes The Complaints – they're the cops who investigate other cops. Complaints and Conduct Department, to give them their full title, but known colloquially as 'The Dark Side', or simply 'The Complaints'. It's where Malcolm Fox works. He's just had a result, and should be feeling good about himself. But he's a man with problems of his own. He has an increasingly frail father in a care home and a sister who persists in an abusive relationship – something which Malcolm cannot seem to do anything about. But, in the midst of an aggressive Edinburgh winter, the reluctant Fox is given a new task. There's a cop called Jamie Breck, and he's dirty. The problem is, no one can prove it. But as Fox takes on the job, he learns that there's more to Breck than anyone thinks. This knowledge will prove dangerous, especially when a vicious murder intervenes far too close to home for Fox's liking.

A tense and complicated thriller featuring inspector John Rebus from the acclaimed author of BLACK AND BLUE. Rebus is buried under a pile of paperwork generated by his investigations into a possible war criminal resident in Edinburgh. His immediate superiors are more than happy to have him tucked away in a quiet backwater for several months looking into ancient history. But the Crime Squad are forced to bring him back to the present day when a young upstart gangster, Tommy Telford, muscles in on Big Ger Cafferty's turf and Rebus's local knowledge becomes essential to the efforts to shut down Telford's business as a drug dealer, pimp and extortionist. Before he can act the waters are muddied further when the war criminal is found hanging in Warriston Cemetery.

OVER 40 NEW STORIES FROM BRITAIN’S LEADING CRIME WRITERSLeading editor and reviewer Maxim Jakubowski has compiled another beguiling collection of the year’s best new short crime fiction from the UK. Ian Rankin’s perennially popular Edinburgh cop, Inspector Rebus, makes an unexpected comeback in a short, but intriguing story, ‘The Very Last Drop’, and the collection closes with another Rankin story, ‘Driven’.Making their first appearance in the series are many luminaries such as Kate Atkinson, Louise Welsh, Stephen Booth, Christopher Brookmyre, Colin Bateman, A. L. Kennedy, Sheila Quigley, Lin Anderson, Simon Kernick and David Hewson. Also represented are exciting up-and-coming talents such as Nick Quantrill, Jay Stringer, Paul D. Brazill and Nigel Bird.

BCA Crime Thriller of the YearJuly 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, and when his colleague Siobhan Clarke finds herself hunting down the identity of the riot cop who assaulted her mother, it looks as though both Rebus and Clarke may be up pitted against both sides in the conflict. THE NAMING OF THE DEAD is a potent mix of action and politics, set against a backdrop of the most devastating week in recent British history.

Un antiguo miembro de las Fuerzas Especiales del Ejército irrumpe en un acto de locura en un colegio privado del norte de Edimburgo, mata a dos alumnos de diecisiete años y acto seguido se suicida. Tal como dice el inspector Rebus «No hay misterio» salvo en el móvil. Interrogante que le conduce al corazón de una pequeña localidad conmocionada por la tragedia. Rebus, que también ha servido en el Ejército, fascinado por la figura del asesino, comprueba que una investigación militar del caso entorpece la suya. Al ex comando no le faltaban amigos ni enemigos: desde personajes públicos hasta jóvenes góticos de atuendo negro y oscuros habitantes de la pequeña localidad cuyas vidas transcurren en un trasfondo de secretos y mentiras. Pero Rebus tiene que hacer también frente a sus propios apuros. Un malhechor, que acosa a su amiga y colega Siobhan Clarke, aparece muerto en su casa tras un incendio cuando el mismo Rebus acaba de salir del hospital con las manos totalmente quemadas.

The increasing warmth between Russia and various NATO countries has led to a corresponding chill between Europe and her American allies. Now the American are leaving Europe — and international tensions are rising.Martin Hepton is a technical working on the Zephyr programme, monitoring the program of Britain’s only spy satellite — a satellite now invaluable to the UK as, with the enforced departure of the Americans, all technological support from the US has been cut off.Mike Dreyfuss is a British astronaut, part of a Shuttle crew charged with launching a new communications satellite for the US government; a man distrusted by his fellow astronauts because of the current political situation.When Zephyr suddenly and mysteriously goes briefly off the air and a colleague of Hepton’s confides his suspicions to him, Hepton finds his own survival at risk — apparently from some very official sources indeed. And Dreyfuss, sole survivor of a fatal shuttle crash, a man on the run in a hostile America, has the only key to the riddle both men must solve if they are to stay alive.