The Rise: A Short Story (Unabridged‪)‬

In this short thriller from bestselling author Ian Rankin, murder comes to London’s most exclusive high-rise—and every resident is a suspect.

The Rise is a gleaming residential tower, newly constructed from steel and blackened glass, that stands on some of London’s most prestigious real estate. Looming imposingly over Hyde Park, only multi-millionaires need apply for one of its sumptuous apartments. But when the young night concierge is found murdered in the building’s lobby, the elite residents quickly find their gilded lifestyles under unwelcome police scrutiny.

Investigating officer DS Gish has her work cut out. The only suspects, those who live in the building, aren’t accustomed to police interrogation. But it seems horribly certain that one of them must be the killer. Could it be the Russian oligarch? Or the lonely actress? Maybe it’s the family of the career criminal? Or perhaps it’s the building’s reclusive developer who lives alone in the penthouse?

Obstructed continually by locked doors, governments both foreign and domestic, and an apparent absence of motive, can DS Gish solve this impenetrable mystery and apprehend the murderer—before they slip away forever?