Fleshmarket Close

{{Short description|2004 crime novel by Ian Rankin}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}}

{{About|the Ian Rankin crime novel|the page about the street linking Waverley Station and Cockburn Street in Edinburgh, Scotland|Fleshmarket Close, Edinburgh}}{{Infobox book |  | name = Fleshmarket Close | orig title = | translator = | image = File:IanRankinFleshmarketClose.jpg | caption = First edition | author = [[Ian Rankin]] | cover_artist = | country = Scotland | language = English | series = [[Inspector Rebus]] | genre = [[Detective fiction]] | publisher = [[Orion Books]] | release_date = 2004 | media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|hardback]] & [[paperback]]) | pages = 399 pp | isbn = 0-7528-5112-8 | oclc = 57380705 | preceded_by = [[A Question of Blood]] | followed_by = [[The Naming of the Dead]] }}

'''''Fleshmarket Close''''' is a 2004 [[crime novel]] by [[Ian Rankin]]. It is the fifteenth of the [[Inspector Rebus]] novels. It was released in the US under the title ''Fleshmarket Alley''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=SCOTS - Interview 09: Ian Rankin on Rebus |url=https://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=1383 |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk}}</ref>

The novel was the basis for the second episode in the second ''[[Rebus (2000 TV series)|Rebus]]'' television series starring [[Ken Stott]], which was aired in 2006.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Joseph |first1=Joe |title=Magnetic Stott has pulling power |work=The Times |issue=68641 |date=7 March 2006 |page=115|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

== Background == ''Fleshmarket Close'' is named after a real [[Alley#Other terms|close]] in Edinburgh between the [[The Royal Mile|High Street]] and Market Street, crossing [[Cockburn Street]].<ref name=":1" /> "Fleshmarket" is the [[Scots language|Scots]] term for [[butcher|a butcher's market]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: plowt n3 |url=https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/plowt_n3 |access-date=2025-04-21}}</ref> The author has stated that the reason for the change of title for the US release was the publisher's belief that a US public might not be familiar with the term "close".<ref name=":0" />

==Plot summary==

[[Detective Inspector John Rebus]] has no desk to work from, as a hint from his superiors that he should consider retirement, but he and his protégée [[Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke|Siobhan Clarke]] are still investigating some seemingly unconnected cases. The sister of a dead rape victim is missing; skeletons turn up embedded in a concrete floor; a [[Kurd]]ish journalist is brutally murdered; and the son of a [[Glasgow]] gangster has moved into the Edinburgh vice scene.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Berlins |first1=Marcel |title=...Or was she pushed? (Crime fiction) |work=The Times |issue=68208 |date=16 October 2004 |page=105|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

The book uses two new settings: a [[sink estate]] divided between the indigenous population and refugees (based on [[Wester Hailes]]),<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barker |first1=Paul |title=Ever get that sinking feeling? |work=The Times |issue=68504 |date=28 September 2005 |page=106|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> and a small town whose economy is dominated by an internment camp for [[asylum seekers]] (based on [[Dungavel]]).

== Themes == The novel deals with themes of immigration, asylum seekers and the outsider as well as those of "community and shared history and people who don’t fit in."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ian Rankin on Fleshmarket Close {{!}} Crime Time |url=https://www.crimetime.co.uk/Ian-Rankin-on-Fleshmarket-Close/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Critics have also spoken of the "relationship between crime and location," and the author's portrayal of the darker side of Edinburgh.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Mullan |first=John |date=2006-08-26 |title=Watching the detectives |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/aug/26/ianrankin |access-date=2025-04-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' says: "Rebus remains one of the more compelling characters in crime fiction—and Rebus's Edinburgh one of the more compelling settings."<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 21, 2025 |title=FLESHMARKET ALLEY: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780316095655 |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}</ref>

== Reception == The book was enthusiastically received, with ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' commenting on the "rich and complex" plotting, and calling the Rebus series "the best thing to come out of Scotland since single malt."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ian-rankin/fleshmarket-alley/ |title=FLESHMARKET ALLEY {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:2004 British novels]] [[Category:Inspector Rebus novels]] [[Category:Royal Mile]] [[Category:Orion Books books]]