Ian Rankin: Death Is Not the End (USA 2000)

From the Publisher:
For readers unfamiliar with the blistering plots and language of Ian Rankin's longer works, this special edition novella is the perfect opportunity to get to know Rankin and his unforgettable creation, Inspector John Rebus. For longtime Rebus fans, it is an opportunity to follow him as he explores a subplot from his most recent outing, Dead Souls.

When his high-school sweetheart calls him out of the blue, Rebus agrees to track down her missing son, who was last seen at a bar owned by some shady mob-linked gangsters. His pursuit takes him through an Edinburgh beyond the tartan tearooms and cobbled streets of the tourist brochures, a modern city boasting a variety of criminals and their victims. As Rebus contemplates the lurking immortality of his own city, Rankin offers readers page-turning suspense and astonishing literary grace.

Ian Rankin: Death Is Not the End. An Inspector Rebus Novella. St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 031226142X (May, 2000), 73 p., $11.95.

Ian Rankin: Death Is Not the End (UK 1998)

From the Publisher:
Damon Mee was last seen in a blurred security video on the dance floor of a Kirkaldy nightclub. It was a routine missing persons case and it wasn't even on his patch, but inspector John rebus said he'd look into it as a favour to the boy's father, a friend from his school days.

In the deft hands of Ian Rankin, the ripples of the investigation widen rapidly. They lead to the club's greasy owner, to a slightly bent casion croupier, to a drop dead blonde whose name nobody seems to know, to a Hibs striker with a talent for goals and a weakness for gambling and finally to the shadowed men who call the shots in Edinburgh's underworld.

When it's over, Rebus has repaid a debt and his boss has received an unexpected birthday present.

Ian Rankin: Death Is Not the End. An Inspector Rebus Novella. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752824864 (November, 1998), 80 p., £3.99 (?).