Fleshmarket Close Rankin, Ian

A Somali asylum seeker dies after falling from an Edinburgh tower block. Suicide, says the official report. But Detective Inspector John Rebus isn't buying it. The victim was set to testify in a people-smuggling case, and the fall looks too convenient. As Rebus digs into Edinburgh's refugee underground—a world of forged papers, desperate hope, and violent exploitation—he's pulled into a case that tangles immigration politics, police corruption, and old grudges. Ian Rankin delivers one of his sharpest Rebus novels here, threading social commentary through classic noir without losing the propulsive storytelling. The title refers to Edinburgh's historic street where medical students once purchased cadavers—a grim echo of how the novel treats disposable lives. This is detective fiction with teeth: morally complicated, politically charged, and impossible to put down once Rebus starts pulling threads.