Showing results by narrator "James Macpherson" in All Categories

When DI Anderson and DS Costello are called to investigate the discovery of a body in a Glasgow attic they soon identify the victim as a suspect in a decade-old case: the rape and attempted murder of a young student by two men. But where is the dead man's accomplice, 'Mr Click'? When another young woman is brutally attacked, detectives Anderson and Costello realise this psychopath has started working once more....

Edinburgh is about to become the home of the first Scottish parliament in 300 years. As political passions run high, DI John Rebus is charged with liaison, thanks to the new parliament being resident in Queensbury House, bang in the middle of his patch. But Queensbury House has its own, dark past. Legend has it that a young man was roasted there on a spit by a madman. When the fireplace where the youth died is uncovered another more recent murder victim is found.

Struggling through another Edinburgh winter Rebus finds himself sucked into a web of intrigue that throws up more questions than answers. Was the Lord Provost's daughter kidnapped or just another runaway? Why is a city councillor shredding documents that should have been waste paper years ago? And why on Earth is Rebus invited to a clay pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office's Permanent Secretary? Sucked into the machine that is modern Scotland, Rebus confronts the fact that some of his enemies may be beyond justice....

It's Christmas, and half the Partickhill police squad is down with flu. Not good timing, with a series of cyanide poisonings in the area, plus two small boys reported missing in the space of a few days. And then there's the monumental task of providing concert security for rock legend Rogan O'Neill.

Rebus is off the case - literally. A few days into the murder inquiry of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at a colleague. He is sent to the Scottish Police College for 'retraining' - in other words, he's in the Last Chance Saloon. Rebus is assigned to an old, unsolved case, but there are those in his team who have their own secrets - and they'll stop at nothing to protect them. Rebus is also asked to act as a go-between for gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty.

Glasgow, 1984: It looked like a simple job. Guarding a woman - nameless and almost faceless after a savage acid attack - at a Glasgow hospital. PC Alan McAlpine has no idea that this simple job will haunt his career and change his life forever.

A few days before the summer solstice, a 92-year-old woman is found burned to death in her home. On the same day, a man's mutilated corpse is discovered, his arms ripped from their sockets, with a tarot card depicting the Fool inserted in his mouth. When the victim is identified as someone for whom the police have been looking for almost a year, detectives Anderson and Costello find themselves caught up in a case where nothing is as it seems.

A student has gone missing in Edinburgh - completely out of character. She's not just any student, though, but the daughter of extremely well-to-do and influential bankers. There's almost nothing to go on, until Detective Inspector John Rebus gets an unmistakable gut feeling that there's more to this than just another runaway spaced out on unaccustomed freedom, or worse. Two leads emerge: a carved wooden doll in a toy coffin, found in the student's home village, and an Internet role-playing game.

Iain Banks, aka Iain M Banks, came to fame in 1984 with his transfixing debut The Wasp Factory, described as both ‘a work of unparalleled depravity’ and 'a masterpiece'. In 1993 he was acknowledged as one of the Best of Young British Writers, and his numerous bestselling books include The Crow Road, Complicity and the ‘Culture’ sci-fi series. Collected here are three of his best works, as heard on BBC Radio.

When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder. Pursued by dangerous ghosts and tormented by the coded secrets of his colleague's notebook, Rebus must piece together the most complex and confusing of jigsaws. But not everyone wants the puzzle solved - perhaps not even Rebus himself.

An illegal immigrant is found murdered in an Edinburgh housing scheme. Is it a racist attack, or something else? Rebus is drawn into the case, but he has other problems: his old police station has closed, and his masters would rather he retire than stick around. As Rebus investigates, he must visit an asylum seekers' detention centre, deal with the sleazy Edinburgh underworld, and maybe even fall in love. Meanwhile, Siobhan has problems of her own.

For the right man, all doors are open ... Mike Mackenzie is a self-made man with too much time on his hands and a bit of the devil in his soul. He is looking for something to liven up the days and perhaps give new meaning to his existence. A chance encounter at an art auction offers him the opportunity to do just that as he settles on a plot to commit a "perfect crime".

Inspector John Rebus must disinter all four cases to nail just one killer who might just lead back to the infamous Bible John. And do it while facing the glare of an internal inquiry led by a man he has just accused of taking backhanders from Glasgow's Mr Big, and with TV cameras at his back investigating a miscarriage of justice. One mistake is likely to mean an unpleasant and not particularly speedy death or, worse still, losing his job.

Nobody likes The Complaints - they're the cops who investigate other cops. Complaints and Conduct Department, to give them their full title, but known colloquially as 'the Dark Side', or simply 'The Complaints'. Malcolm Fox works for The Complaints. He's just had a result, and should be feeling good about himself....but there's a cop called Jamie Breck, and he's dirty. Problem is, no one can prove it.

A missing private investigator is found locked in a car hidden deep in the woods. Worse still - both for his family and the police - is that his body was in an area that had already been searched. Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is part of a new inquiry, combing through the mistakes of the original case. There were always suspicions over how the investigation was handled and now - after a decade without answers - it's time for the truth.