Crime writer Ian Rankin’s novella opens with a body in the foyer of a gleaming new residential high rise. Overlooking London’s Hyde Park, the building’s flats are affordable only to the super-rich. The residents – who are now murder suspects – include an art dealer specialising in modern sculpture; the wife of a gangster who is wanted by police; a princess from an unnamed Gulf state, plus her phalanx of bodyguards; a Russian multimillionaire; and, in the penthouse, a property mogul who may or may not be up to his neck in debt. The body is that of the night concierge, Dwaine Hogarth, found by his girlfriend who had come to visit in the middle of his shift. No sooner have the police arrived and begun questioning residents when another corpse is found, this time in the car park in the boot of the Russian’s Bentley.
Though set in present-day London, a playground for oligarchs, developers and international royalty, Rankin’s story is a classic whodunnit, a locked-room mystery transposed to a swanky block of flats. On the case is DS Gillian Gish, who, alongside DCI Jack Milton, must identify the second corpse and talk to the building’s occupants, all of whom have something to hide.
The Game of Thrones actor Indira Varma brings her customary range and depth to the narration, capturing both the anxiety and outrage of the residents and Gish’s increasing exasperation. A short, smart and pacy thriller, The Rise offers a compelling glimpse into the lives of the 1%.
• The Rise is available via Amazon Original Stories, 2hr 26min
Further listening
Rambling Man: Life on the Road
Billy Connolly, Two Roads, 7hr 55min
The standup comedian, retired from live comedy since his Parkinson’s diagnosis, reads his memoir featuring stories from a life spent touring.
Aesop’s Animals
Jo Wimpenny, Tantor Audio, 12hr 43min
Wimpenny, a zoologist, casts a critical eye over Aesop’s fables and asks: are foxes cunning? Could a tortoise really beat a hare in a race? Jennifer M Dixon reads.
