Another gem from Ian Rankin

Santa Claus was very generous with me this Christmas. As well as the aforementioned designer chocolates, earrings, a necklace and various other things, he brought me the latest Ian Rankin's novel, Exit Music (Orion Books). Ian Rankin is well-known for his crime stories set in Edinburgh, among them The Naming of the Dead, A Question of Blood, Set in Darkness, Dead Souls... It all sounds very gloomy, but don't give up just yet.

His main character is Inspector John Rebus, a rebellious cop with a no-nonsense approach to Scottish politics. His team-mate is Detective Siobhan Clarke, an English "expatriate" who thinks better of having an affair with him, despite their mutual attraction. Rebus's arch rival is gangster Big Ger Cafferty.

They all appear in the latest opus, but the best thing about the book is the political background (the story takes place in November 2006, in the run-up to the Scottish elections which the Scottish National Party went on to win). As the investigation on two murders unfolds, you read about the smoking ban, the obsession with security cameras, the baffling architecture of the Scottish parliament, the prospect of independence and the arrival of Russian investors in Scotland. The style is fluid, ladden with colloquialisms ("I used to go to the kirk", "Oh aye ?") and references to Scottish artists (Bert Jansch, John Martyn, Douglas Gordon)...

I might as well quote a few passages. If you want to know more about today's Scotland, it's the page-turner you need.

Page 43 : When smoking had been banned, back in March, Rebus had foreseen disaster for places like the Oxford Bar -traditional pubs catering to basic needs : a pint, a cigarette, horse-racing on TV and a hotline to the local turf accoutant. Yet most of its haunts had survived, albeit with reduced takings. True to form, however, the smokers had formed a stubborn little gang that would congregate outside, trading stories and gossip. Tonight, the talk was the usual mix : someone was giving his views on a recently opened tapas bar, while the woman alongside wanted to know what the quietest time was to visit Ikea ; a pipe-smoker was arguing for full-scale independence, while his English-sounding neighbour teased that the south would be glad of the break-up -"and no bloody alimony !"
"North Sea oil's the only alimony we'll need", the pipe-smoker said.
"It's already running out. Twenty years and you'll be back with the begging-bowl."
"In twenty years we'll be Norway."
"Either that or Albania."
"Thing is", another smoker interrupted, "if Labour lost its Scottish seats at Westminster, it'd never get elected again south of the border."
"Fair point", the Englishman said.
"Just after opening or just before closing?" the woman was asking.
"Bits of squid and tomato", her neighbour stated. "Not bad once you got the taste..."

Page 299 : Tourist were milling around, a few interested in the Parliament building but the majority keener on the Palace of Holyrood across the street. One or two seemed to be puzzling over the vertical bamboo bars across some of the Parliament's windows.
"Join the club", Rebus muttered, stubbing the cigarette and heading inside. As he emptied his pockets and prepared for the metal detector at security, he asked one of the guards about the bamboo.
"Search me", the man said.
"Isn't that supposed to be my line ?" Rebus replied.

Page 300 : Rebus still wasn't sure about this vast, echoing interior. If someone had told him he was in an airport, he might have believed them. He couldn't tell what sort of statement it was supposed to be making. One newspaper report from a few years back had stuck in his mind, the journalist speculating that the building was too elaborate for its actual purpose and was, in fact, "an independent parliament in waiting". Made sense when you remembered that the architect was Catalan.

Si vous voulez en savoir plus sur l'Ecosse actuelle, lisez le dernier roman de Ian Rankin, Exit Music. Cet auteur écossais situe toutes ses enquêtes policières à Edimbourg, avec pour héros l'inspecteur rebelle John Rebus. Dans ce dernier épisode en date, il est question des élections au Parlement écossais (l'histoire se passe quelques mois avant le scrutin de mai 2007), de l'éventuelle indépendance, de l'interdiction de fumer dans les pubs, de l'obsession locale pour les caméras de surveillance, et de l'arrivée en masse des investisseurs russes. Oh, et il y a aussi une enquête sur un double meurtre, mais c'est presque le moins intéressant.