by Ken Johnstone

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: June 16, 2009

It's said all good things must come to an end, and it was with a certain sadness that I read the very last in the John Rebus set of crime novels, "Exit Music", by Edinburgh author Ian Rankin.

Rankin has been a favorite author of mine ever since Rankin's very first Rebus novel, "Knots and Crosses" (1987). Inspector John Rebus, the irascible, grouchy Edinburgh detective started out life as a Detective Sergeant, but despite his outstanding record in nabbing the bad guys, his pathological dislike for convention and his lack of social graces (he would never kiss a*se) ensured he was never going to rise up the ranks of the Edinburgh City Police, and in Exit Music he is still only a Detective Inspector.

Unlike some other crime authors, who prolong their hero's longevity by keeping them at the same age in every book, Rankin allowed Rebus to grow old in real time. (If not gracefully, but disgracefully.) Hence when we first encountered Rebus in 1987 he was 40 years of age. Exit Music being set in 2007, Rebus is now 60 years old which is the statutory age for retirement in the Scottish police, so in a way Rankin was left with no choice but to retire him. Such is Rankin's stature as an author in Scotland that it has been reported that a MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) made a tongue in cheek appeal that the police retirement age should be raised to 65, in order to allow Rankin to write just a few more Rebus novels.

Rebus grew in stature and complexity with the passing years as author Rankin honed his writing skills. Just before I read Exit Music I re-read one of the early Rebus novels, "Hide and Seek" (1991), and it was obvious just how much Rankin's writing had improved with the passage of time. During those years Rankin has been feted as one of the UK's top crime writers, winning many and multifarious awards along the way for his Rebus novels, including a couple of CWA Macallan Gold Dagger Awards, the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award (for lifetime achievement) and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. In 2002 he was awarded an OBE for his services to literature.

So what's Exit Music about?
Rebus is literally only 10 days away from retirement and whiling away his time revisiting some old unsolved cases when a world famous dissident Russian poet is murdered in a lane-way off the Grassmarket. At first glance it looks like a mugging, but nothing is ever quite what it appears. Rebus and his protege, DS Siobhan Clarke, quickly suspect that it is in some

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