The Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Short Stories is an anthology of all the Inspector Rebus short stories (30) by Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin, plus the novella Death Is Not the End; though the Rebus short story "Well Shot" published in 2nd Culprit (1993) is not included.

The first story "Dead and Buried" is set in the mid-1980s when Rebus was learning the ropes at Summerhall Police Station, and "The Very Last Drop" is set during a tour of a brewery immediately after Rebus's retirement in Exit Music, a retirement present from Siobhan Clarke who goes with him (written to be read aloud at a charity night at Edinburgh's Caledonian Brewery).

[1] All the twelve Rebus stories in A Good Hanging and Other Stories are included: they cover a chronological year in Rebus's life; "Playback" in March, "A Good Hanging" in August during the Festival Fringe and "Auld Lang Syne" in December.

There are six uncollected stories from magazines and newspapers, often for a Christmas issue so set in the festive season.

Further Copyright Information (pages 610–611) gives the year of first publication as shown below and where published.