Ian Rankin is just about the best crime thriller writer in the UK, if not in the English language. I have always found the Rebus stories – both the novels and the TV programmes – one of the best forms of relaxation. I must have read almost every Rebus book and enjoyed every one.

The Complaints, set as ever in Rankin’s Edinburgh, is not Rebus. It is, however, equally good. Inspector Malcolm Fox on the Complaints and Discipline section of Lothian and Borders Police is asked to investigate a younger colleague, Sergeant Jamie Breck. Inevitably, all is not as it seems, especially after Fox’s sister’s partner, who is also an abuser, is found dead, having been brutally murdered.

 What follows is a complicated tale of corruption in relatively high places and criminal low life, all told in Rankin’s fast, eminently readable style.

This is an absolute must of a book. I guarantee you will not be able to put it down.