Mon, Jan 2, 2006
DI Rebus investigates the murder of Dr. Joseph Devlin, a retired obstetrician. The man is found in his home, tied to a chair with his wrists slit. On his lap is a miniature coffin, similar to those found in a local museum, with the smiling effigy of a child inside. Devlin had dined the previous evening with Sir James Hogarth, his closest friend. Rebus and DS Siobhan Clarke get on the trail of David Costello when Phillipa Balfour, a university student working at a local museum, tells them she has once again started to receive threatening e-mails from Costello, who has stalked her in the past. When Sir James' ex-wife is found murdered in exactly the same way as Devlin, it becomes apparent that Costello is seeking some type of revenge. Rebus suspects Sir James has had an incestuous relationship with his daughter but is having difficulty finding the evidence.
Mon, Jan 16, 2006
A man from Kosovo is killed in a seedy Edinburgh slum. Considered by some to be a hate crime, due largely to the racist slur painted on the victim's head -- Rebus is unconvinced. Clues lead to the dirty underworld of gangland bosses, and their control over the local underprivileged. Fingerprints, blood stains, odd looks, dramatic music cues -- even unused tickets to a soccer match -- all lead Rebus to another corpse. Rebus sees the killer's motivation not as racist, but rather of sibling rivalry, hidden passion, or something much more devious... Or maybe not.