Black and Blue (Rankin novel)
First edition
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| Author | Ian Rankin |
|---|---|
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Detective novel |
| Publisher | Orion Books |
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Publication date
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1997 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 320 pages |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 39741138 |
| Preceded by | Let it Bleed |
| Followed by | The Hanging Garden |
Black & Blue is a 1997 crime novel by Ian Rankin. The eighth of the Inspector Rebus novels, it was the first to be adapted in the Rebus television series starring John Hannah, airing in 2000.
It is considered a landmark entry in the Tartan Noir genre.
Detective Inspector John Rebus is working on four cases at once trying to catch a killer he suspects of being the infamous Bible John. He has to do it while under an internal inquiry led by a man he has accused of taking bribes from Glasgow's "Mr Big". TV journalists are meanwhile investigating Rebus over a miscarriage of justice. Rebus travels between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen and then on to Shetland and the North Sea.
Set in Scotland around the mid-1990s, Black & Blue focuses on Detective Inspector Rebus. Transferred to Craigmillar, Rebus is investigating the Johnny Bible case. (The spree of recent killings bears a striking similarity to the factual "Bible John" case of the late 1960s.) Rebus resolves an ambiguous incident with his colleague Brian Holmes, regarding the alleged assault on the criminal Mental Minto. He becomes involved in investigating the brutal death of Allan Mitchison. At home, Rebus is fascinated by the Bible John killings, and studies them off-duty through old newspapers and reports. Rebus had also worked on the Spaven case with a former boss, Geddes; despite having arrested Spaven and found him with the victim’s handbag, Rebus (and the press) are not convinced that the evidence wasn’t planted. Spaven had continued to protest his innocence, including in a best-selling biography, before committing suicide in prison.
Rebus starts investigating Mitchison’s death, while assigning Holmes to research Geddes’ notes in the Spaven case, to return the favour for resolving the earlier incident with Minto. Suspecting Tony El of murdering Mitchison, Rebus puts out his description before heading to Partick to see Joseph Toal, a local crime boss who used to employ Tony El.
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