Spooks and the City

Ian Rankin, forty something chronicler of ageing DI John Rebus, has other ideas.

When london8217;s transport was hit by the July 7 7/7 blasts last year, the image was of British Prime Minister Tony Blair rushing out of the security afforded in and around Edinburgh for the sudden upheaval in London. But was the calm of the Gleneagles G-8 summit in fact illusory?

Ian Rankin, forty something chronicler of ageing DI John Rebus, has other ideas. His latest Rebus book, The Naming of the Dead, is set around the days of the summit, and besides detailing the accumulating sadnesses of Rebus8217;s life it catches Edinburgh at a particular moment. Security is tight, of course, anti-war and anti-globalisation protesters have gathered to shout their often contradictory slogans at the barricades, rock stars are petitioning the most powerful men in the world to write off Third World debt, and Rebus has a case he8217;s not being allowed to pursue.

A young politician has been found dead, from a fall, near Edinburgh castle, and it seems to Rebus that his superiors are deliberately impeding any investigation. Also, clues are appearing to the murders of men who have recently served time on charges of rape. Edinburgh is the beating heart of a burst of great new detective fiction. Alexander McCall Smith8217;s philosopher-cum-amateur detective Isabel Dalhousie does not quite make acquaintance with the city8217;s dangerous and simmering underbelly. Hers is a quiet life given to gentle reflection on ethics and sorting out other people8217;s lives.

Dalhousie apprehends a murder by a gold-digger accompanying a rich American keen to make a second home in Scotland. All the chiding by her friends not to intrude into other people8217;s lives does not help. And she may never really know for sure in the end, but by all perceptions, by the book8217;s conclusion she may just have prevented a death. Detective fiction and crime thrillers are fast replacing travel writing as the primary ways of knowing different cities, countries and cultures. Venice, Istanbul, Botswana, Shanghai, ancient Rome, Sweden, Tokyo. Edinburgh is well served by these two writers and McCall Smith of course the author of the charming Mma Ramotswe books based in Botswana. Rankin has even made an appearance as a character in a serialised story McCall Smith writes for The Scotsman. 8220;Earlier in its history,8221; writes Rankin, 8220;Edinburgh was prone to invasion. Its inhabitants hid behind walls and gates, and when those were breached retreated to the warren-like tunnels below the Castle and the High Street, leaving the city empty and the victory hollow8230; It might also explain Edinburgh8217;s reliance on 8216;invisible8217; industries such as banking and insurance.8221;

Clearly, much of that has changed. Now, when invaders come 8212; whether they be G-8 summiteers or itinerant protestors or rich Americans on the hunt for a cultured home away from home or Australian backpackers 8211; the people of Edinburgh meet them squarely. Dalhousie and Rebus gather their concerns and strive to contextualise great contemporary dilemmas in their own city. Detective work 8211; professional or amateur 8212; is the 8220;invisible8221; industry on the ascent.