MORTAL CAUSES: Book 6

Inspector John Rebus hates the Edinburgh Festival - especially the last Saturday night. After years on the force, he has learned to endure the crowds, the noise, the drunken cheer and the endless cries of Slàinte! Even so, the city's biggest celebration has a habit of pulling him in against his will. This year, amid the music and laughter, something far darker has arrived in Edinburgh. In the shadowy depths of Mary King's Close, beneath the festival streets, Rebus discovers the body of Billy Cunningham, hanging from a butcher's hook. One look tells him his troubles are only beginning. Billy was the son of Big Ger Cafferty, a ruthless gangster whose reach extends far beyond the prison bars Rebus helped put him behind. When Cafferty learns how his only son died, Rebus has more than professional duty driving him to find the killer. But the pathologist's verdict - that Billy was murdered by expert hands - points to a force even Cafferty might fear. As Rebus begins to suspect sectarian extremists, the stakes rise sharply. With the city packed with tourists, the threat of terrorism is almost unthinkable. And when crime, politics and old hatreds collide, Rebus realises he's standing on a volcano of violence - and it's about to erupt. 320 page paperback.