Rebus out-Foxed

WHEN Detective Inspector John Rebus retired in 2007, after a triumphant 17 novels, readers wondered how Ian Rankin would cope without his renowned literary creation, a character who had attained an almost flesh-and-blood realism. We need not have worried. Two years on, Rankin introduced us to Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox, a man cut from similar cloth to Rebus but of a different nature.

Fox heads up the Lothian and Borders’ branch of professional standards and ethics, a three-man field team known as ‘the Complaints’. His job is to investigate corruption and improper behaviour within the force, which makes him a figure of contempt to ‘real’ cops. The Impossible Dead brings Fox and his assistants, Kaye and Naysmith, to the coastal Fife town of Kircaldy, where a detective named Paul Carter has been charged with abusing his position for sexual favours. Their task is to uncover evidence of departmental misconduct, but what should be a routine investigation is quickly muddied.