Detective Inspector John Rebus, the creation of Scottish thriller writer Ian Rankin, is at last about to be put out to pasture. What has in some ways been an inglorious career, brought about by his own inclinations for insubordination and independent action - not to mention his love of single malt whisky and Deuchars IPA! - is finally drawing to a close. As he counts down the last few days of his partnership with Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke and wonders how he is going to fill the long, empty times ahead, the killing of a dissident Russian poet on Edinburgh's King's Stables Road gives him one final opportunity to get his teeth into a juicy murder case. Will it be a glorious swansong for Rebus...or will his old traits lead him into one final confrontation with the establishment?

As Rebus and Clarke investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the Russian poet, they find a web of complicated circumstances woven in their path, not the least of which is the presence of a high level Russian trade delegation in Edinburgh, the principal of which has an acrimonious historical connection with the deceased from their days in Russia. But what threat could one poet pose to the machinations of trade negotiations with Members of the Scottish Parliament and leading banking officials, and even more to the point so far is Rebus is concerned, how did his old Nemesis, Big Ger Cafferty, work his way into the company of such high level movers and shakers?

A second murder, this time of the film maker who was the dinner companion of the poet on his last fateful evening, throws a further spanner into the works for Clarke and Rebus. What is the connection and what is the relevance of the CD recording of the poet's address at the Scottish Poetry Library? Suspended from duty following an unfortunate altercation with the Chief Constable, Rebus arranges a discreet rendezvous with Cafferty, the man whom he believes holds the key to the whole affair. But when Cafferty is found beaten unconscious and thereafter lapses into a coma, the finger of suspicion points at the discredited DI. Has he finally taken what could be his last opportunity to take out the gangster in a most unconventional sense, and if not, how can he prove his innocence?