See More From Book Club Friends

Sign up and log in to post, comment and join the conversation.

Book Club Friends is 100% Canadian 🇨🇦

Ian Rankin
The Complaints
Book #1 of the Malcolm Fox series
See the list of Malcolm Fox books in order

The Complaints

‘Unmissable Rankin, as gripping and involving as any Rebus story’ CHOICE; ‘A brilliant book’ GUARDIAN

From the No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES

‘On the evidence of THE COMPLAINTS it looks as if Fox will be just as sure-footed a guide to the city as his grizzled predecessor’ DAILY EXPRESS.

Nobody likes The Complaints – they’re the cops who investigate other cops. Complaints and Conduct Department, to give them their full title, but known colloquially as ‘the Dark Side’, or simply ‘The Complaints’. Malcolm Fox works for The Complaints. He’s just had a result, and should be feeling good about himself. But he’s middle-aged, sour and unwell. He also has a father in a care home and a sister who persists in an abusive relationship.

In the midst of an aggressive Edinburgh winter, the reluctant Fox is given a new task. There’s a cop called Jamie Breck, and he’s dirty. Problem is, no one can prove it. But as Fox takes on the job, he learns that there’s more to Breck than anyone thinks. This knowledge will prove dangerous, especially when murder intervenes.

Author: Ian Rankin
Published: 2009
Page Count: 438

This page may include affiliate links.

Purchase on:

Amazon
Amazon

Book Club Discussion Questions For The Complaints

The Complaints
Discuss The Complaints With Your Book Club Friends

Do you want to take a deeper dive intoThe Complaints? Chat about themes, characters, settings, plots and let’s celebrate this book for our Book of the Month discussion!

Suggest The Complaints

More Book Club Discussions

A Better Man
A Fatal Grace
A Great Reckoning
A Rule Against Murder
A Trick of the Light
A World of Curiosities
All the Devils Are Here
An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
Beautiful Ugly
Bury Your Dead
Glass Houses
How the Light Gets In
How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future
Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
Kingdom of the Blind
On Tyranny
State of Terror
Still Life
The Beautiful Mystery
The Boyfriend
The Briar Club
The Brutal Telling
The Crash
The Cruelest Month
The Frozen River
The Grey Wolf
The Housemaid
The Life We Bury
The Long Way Home
The Madness of Crowds
The Mighty Red
The Nature of the Beast
The River We Remember
The Rose Code
The Searcher
The Thursday Murder Club
See All Discussions

Highly Recommended Books by Ian Rankin Book Club Friends

Kaleidoscope: A Countess Karitska Novel
The Girl of His Dreams
Point of Origin
Death in Focus
Crack Down
The Magnolia Palace
The Birthday Present
Death in the Vines
Motive: An Alex Delaware Novel
The Mary Russell Companion
The Chase
Predator
The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
Bullseye: An Original Will Robie / Camel Club Short Story
Invisible Girl
Whispers of the Dead
Two Bagger
First Frost: A Longmire Mystery
Dead Man's Footsteps
Injustice for All
Goldengirl
A Sunless Sea: A William Monk Novel
Naughty In Nice
Friends in High Places
Make Death Love Me
Eye for an Eye
The Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Stories
A Christmas Gathering
Poseidon's Gold
Burying Ariel
The Alphabet House
The Secret Hours
Tricky Twenty-Two
Blood Hollow
The Sugar House
The Third Victim
The Order
Light of the World
Knock
The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche
Gone for Good
The Thief
Death of a Nurse
Death of a Charming Man
The Black Cabinet
Think Twice
An Echo of Murder: A William Monk Novel
Killing Grounds
Scandal Takes a Holiday
Away with the Fairies
One Across
Triple Jeopardy
Disappearance of a Scribe
A Game Called Malice: A Rebus Play
Body of Evidence
High Five
A Match Made for Murder
A Shooting at Chateau Rock
Chrysalis
Hard Row
The Bone Garden
Innocent Graves
Oh Danny Boy
Devil's Claw
Frozen: A Vera Stanhope Short Story
Nothing But Trouble
Extreme Prey
Two of the Deadliest
Slaves of Obsession: A William Monk Novel
Wild Fire
The Buzzard Table
An East End Murder: A Charles Lennox Short Story
Nightblind
Rain Gods
Shimura Trouble
Extraordinary People
A Land More Kind Than Home
Death of an Addict
On the Edge
Trigger Mortis
A Song of Comfortable Chairs
The Western Star: A Longmire Mystery
Highgate Rise
Fire Sale
The Unlocking Season
The Subtle Serpent
The Vanishing Point
Hard Eight
Quitter's Inc.
Diamond and the Eye
Fire and Ice
The Fleur de Sel Murders: A Brittany Mystery
Beau Death
Winter of the World
Agatha Raisin and The Wizard of Evesham
Case Histories
Acceptable Loss: A William Monk Novel
Cardington Crescent
Revenge in a Cold River: A William Monk Novel
Into the Darkness
The Rags of Time: A DC Smith Investigation
Weighed in the Balance: A William Monk Novel
Disappeared: A Kate Burkholder Short Mystery
A Killing Spring
Blue Lightning
The A List
Death of a Dreamer
Blue Shoes and Happiness
Brain Damage
Dorchester Terrace
The Buckshaw Chronicles: Volume 1
The Body
Through the Evil Days
A Duty to the Dead
Cold Is the Grave: An Inspector Banks Novel
The Stranger Diaries
Jacket Man
The Salaryman's Wife
The Murder Book
The Prisoner of Castillac
A Hidden Secret: A Kate Burkholder Short Story
The Franchise Affair
Smoke and Mirrors
Nobody Walks
The Hidden City
A Christmas Homecoming
Killing Raven
Dishing the Dirt
Wait for What Will Come
High Island Blues
Trial by Fire
Track of the Cat
Letters to a Soldier
The Killing Stones
Kills Well with Others
Blood Moon: A Kate Burkholder Short Mystery
Hour of the Hunter
Death in Blue Folders
Five Fires
The Wedding Guest
Photo Finish
Death of a Bore
Final Assignment
Bloodmoon
Rebus' Scotland
Metro Girl
The Ex
The Summer That Never Was
Death of a Maid
Tall Oaks
UR
Baltimore Blues
Not Safe After Dark: And Other Stories
The Housemaid's Wedding: A Short Story
Restless in the Grave
Dr. Death: An Alex Delaware Novel
Listen to Me
The Cruelest Month
Legacy of the Dead
The Ghost Walker
Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
Knots and Crosses
The Twelve Clues of Christmas
Toxic Prey
The Black Book
12 Rose Street
The Soul of Discretion
Deliver Us from Evil
The Great Deceiver
Less Than a Treason
The Life We Bury
Losing You
The Camelot Caper
Jolie Blon's Bounce
Dark Fire
Masked Prey
Long Bright River
A Room Full of Bones
Dead If You Don't
Seasonal Work
The Moth Catcher
The Moor
No Honor Among Thieves
A Case of Spirits
Naked Once More
A Thief of Time
Three-Day Town
To Darkness and to Death
Winter's Child
A Place of Hiding
Hardly Knew Her: Short Stories
Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Proof of Guilt
Dark Places
The Bounty
The Château Murder
The Bone Code
Two Graves
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
Last Act in Palmyra
Autopsy
Angels Flight
Death of a Poison Pen
OverKill
The Jupiter Myth
Freeze Frame
The Man from St. Petersburg
Cover Her Face
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Inherit the Dead
Wildcat: V. I. Warshawski's First Case
Turbo Twenty-Three
The Boyfriend
Treachery at Lancaster Gate
The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax
Bruno's Challenge and Other Stories of the French Countryside
Desperate Undertaking
Faith
The Memory Game
A Grave Robbery
The Beautiful Mystery
Blood Will Tell
Failure to Appear
With This Ring: A Deborah Knott Short Story
Death of a Prankster
Water Like a Stone
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding
Shoulder the Sky: A Novel
Extraction
It Begins in Betrayal
Lean Mean Thirteen
The Black Ascot
Earthly Remains
Mad Honey
Borrower of the Night: A Vicky Bliss Novel of Suspense
The Typhoon Lover
The Spook Who Spoke Again
The Therapist
The Body Farm
Free Fire
I Shall Not Want
The Marriage of Mary Russell
Man Found Dead in Park
Sworn to Silence
The Lying Game
A Hanging at Dawn: A Bess Crawford Short Story
The Forgotten Garden
One Good Deed
Seeds of Deception: A Kate Burkholder Short Story
Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish
Wish You Were Dead: Quick Reads
The Camel Club
The Healers
The Miracle at Speedy Motors
A Stranger in Mayfair
Treason at Lisson Grove
Treasure State
The Blue Last
The Quiet Side of Passion
The Spectacular
A Column of Fire
To the Power of Three
Easy Prey
The Distant Hours
The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel
Out of Bounds
Skin and Bones: A Mike Bowditch Short Mystery
The Heist
Full Blast
Knife Creek
The Colorado Kid
The Evening and the Morning
The Perfect Paragon
The Keys to the Street
Dead by Dawn
Fatal Remedies
The Dilemma
Bless the Bride
A Superior Death
J is for Judgment
Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Novel
The Last Mile
Saints of the Shadow Bible
Deception on His Mind
The Coldest Case
A Christmas Garland
I Will Ruin You
The Cabinet of Curiosities
A Refiner’s Fire
Sweet
Lay Down My Sword and Shield
Royal Flush
The Monk Who Vanished
Beastly Things
Duma Key
Die Again: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
The Judas Judge
Cimarron Rose
Hardball: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
Mortal Causes