Exit Music, the 20th novel in Ian Rankin's Rebus series, charts the final 10 days in the run-up to the iconic Scottish detective's retirement. Rebus's efforts to clear his desk are interrupted by the murder of a Russian poet, in what at first appears to have been an abortive mugging. However, the arrival in Edinburgh of a delegation of Russian businessmen muddies the waters, and as Rebus and his colleague, DS Siobhan Clarke, dig deeper, the attack begins to appear less random. At the same time, Rebus himself falls under suspicion following an assault on Edinburgh gangster (and Rebus's Moriarty) Ger Cafferty, and any remaining chance he had of going gently into that good night is destroyed.Listen now to Ian Rankin reading the opening of Exit Music, exclusively for Guardian Unlimited Books.
