The Naming of the Dead (Inspector John Rebus Series #16) » (Reprint)

One of the most successful -- and bestselling -- Scottish crime authors around, Ian Rankin is perhaps most famous for the acclaimed Inspector Rebus series, which has consistently topped the Sunday Times bestseller lists, and was adapted into a mega-popular television series across the pond.

The leaders of the free world descend on Scotland for an international conference, and every cop in the country is needed for front-line duty...except one. John Rebus's reputation precedes him, and his bosses don't want him anywhere near Presidents Bush and Putin, which explains why he's manning an abandoned police station when a call comes in. During a preconference dinner at Edinburgh Castle, a delegate has fallen to his death. Accident, suicide, or something altogether more sinister? And is it linked to a grisly find close to the site of the gathering? Are the world's most powerful men at risk from a killer? While the government and secret services attempt to hush the whole thing up, Rebus knows he has only seventy-two hours to find the answers.

The Washington Post - Patrick Anderson

Still, the murders are not what the book is about. They give it structure and suspense, but all the Rebus books are finally about the author's sheer joy in storytelling. The Naming of the Dead overflows with characters, plots, subplots, flashbacks, surprises, digressions and details. Rankin's books are not sleek and streamlined but unruly and inclusive; they are, as the song says, ragged but right.