The novel takes place on November 15-27, 2006; Rebus's last day in the Edinburgh CID is November 25. Rebus and Siobhan Clarke are investigating the death of a famous Russian exile poet who was mugged and beaten to death on King's Stables Road. Then a sound recordist with close ties to the dead Russian poet dies at home in an arson fire. Rebus discovers that the dead poet had eaten his last meal with the recordist, then had a drink with Morris Gerald Cafferty, Rebus's gangster nemesis, in a bar where Cafferty was meeting a Russian oligarch and a Labour official from the Scottish Parliament. Rebus finds Cafferty's hand in many schemes (drugs, abusive landlord practices), but the biggest ones involve real estate and are quite legitimate.
Meanwhile DS Siobhan Clarke, on the cusp of promotion to DI and given charge of the case, tries to find her own way, both dreading and looking forward to losing her mentor. She takes on a protégé of her own, a street cop from a family involved with petty crime, Todd Goodyear.
