Three guys, three different reasons to steal priceless art. Former software whiz kid Mike MacKenzie can buy most anything he wants, but he's bored, restless, and looking for adventure. Boring, divorced banker Allan Cruickshank needs cash to pay for his sons to attend their outrageously expensive private school. And Professor Robert Gissing has a cause: the "repatriation" of art being stored or displayed privately.
The three joke about how to go about stealing art from the storage rooms of Scotland's National Gallery, but soon their talk moves from fantasy to an actual plan. They can't pull it off on their own, however, and turn for help to Chib Calloway, a rough type with ready access to extra manpower. Adding Chib to the caper is a mistake-he's a cutthroat, take-no-prisoners gangster with money problems. Add an art student with a demanding girlfriend, a detective trying for advancement, a Hell's Angel nicknamed Hate (due probably to the fact that both of his hands are tattooed with the word) to the mix and the plot just gets better and better.
In 2007, Ian Rankin retired Edinburgh Detective Inspector John Rebus after more than 20 books written over 20 years. Doors Open, a stand-alone mystery, was published as a 14-week story in the New York Times Magazine. The story's origin as a series is clear from each chapter's cliff-hanger ending. Rankin is beloved among mystery fans on both sides of the pond. Even if you thought Rebus was a bit of a crank, you'll love his latest.
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