Ian Rankin's Rebus

Rebus finds himself mixing with the upper end of Edinburgh society when an eminent doctor is murdered and an intriguing clue is left at the scene of the crime: a tiny coffin with a smiling effigy of a baby inside. Another murder occurs that is obviously connected and as the case unfolds Rebus is thrown back to a mysterious suicide case he was investigating 20 years previously. As he uncovers the truth behind the murders he also lets loose some less than savoury skeletons in the closet of Edinburgh's wealthiest family and in turn solves the suicide case.

A Kosovan man is murdered on a notorious Edinburgh sink estate and Rebus is brought in to investigate. At first it appears to be a race crime but Rebus is unconvinced and in his inimitably dogged manner discovers that in fact two other murders are linked to the initial crime. One of the victims is the brother of the lead thug on the estate and the other another Kosovan girl, both of whom had been missing. With the help of local MP Trudy Laing, Rebus manages to disperse the smokescreen and realises that rather than being racially motivated, the murders were linked to affairs of the heart.

The body of a young woman has been found, apparently beaten unconscious and then buried alive in a wood. The MO matches the "Five Sisters Murders", an unsolved case, now twenty years old, and one of the first Rebus ever worked... unsuccessfully. Rebus had a suspect back then, a young man called Daniel Raeburn, from a nice middle class Edinburgh family, but couldn't get enough evidence to prosecute. These days Daniel is a successful MSP, a patron of the arts and a respected member of society but Rebus still has a bad feeling about Daniel Raeburn. Rebus receives a mysterious package: an old, tattered notebook containing drawings and undecipherable codes. Rebus is convinced that the notebook is the key to solving the Five Sisters Murders. As other suspects emerge, can Rebus be certain of Daniel's guilt?

Celebrations at the conviction of members of a crime gang are interrupted by news of a shooting at a private school. Three boys have been shot, two dead and the other seriously injured. Ex-SAS PE teacher Lee Hartman lies in the same room with a hole in his head and a gun in his hand. Rebus, a lone voice, is troubled by inconsistencies at the crime scene. His position is made untenable, however, when he discovers that he is a relative of one of the dead boys. He resigns the case and embarks on a high risk and unconventional quest for the truth.

Millionaire philanthropist Gregor Jack is caught during a brothel raid. In another part of Edinburgh a woman's body is found beaten to death in a river. Her murder seems to have been the result of a failed sexual assault. Jack, about to chair a conference on African poverty, claims he simply made a stupid error of judgement in visiting a prostitute, but it doesn't help that there are establishment forces out to get him. Rebus thinks he was set up. As he and Siobhan pull up at his mansion Jack is having a bitter argument with his wife Liz. She storms off threatening to take him for every penny. When another woman's body is found similarly battered and dead in a river on the outskirts of the city, it looks as though the same killer has struck again. Muddying the waters though is the woman's identity: Liz Jack. Rebus embarks on a journey into the mind and hidden past of her super-rich husband.

When small-time criminal Sammy McNally blows his head off at the offices of investment banker Andrew Hammill, Rebus is convinced there's more at stake than a straightforward suicide. Despite Templer's warnings to the contrary he delves deeper into Sammy's death, revealing a connection with prominent chemical company Dusanto. Rebus's investigations open a massive can of worms as he discovers evidence implicating Dusanto in the cover-up of a huge atrocity in Angola. But Dusanto plans to expand its Scotland operation. Hundreds of jobs will be created when the new plant opens. If Rebus blows the whistle on the cover-up, Dusanto will be ruined - a fact Rebus is made well aware of by those in the highest echelons of Scottish society. But is that really a good enough reason to turn a blind eye?