Black and Blue

⚖The case for it

The novel that broke Rankin internationally. Inspector Rebus investigates a possible connection between a recent murder and the unsolved Bible John killings of the 1960s. Rankin's Edinburgh, scarred by Thatcherism, drug violence, and institutional corruption, is as impressive a city-portrait as Chandler's LA. Gold Dagger winner, 1997.

— the canon

✕The case against

Rankin runs four cases at once (Bible John, a copycat, an oil-rig death, old Glasgow corruption) and trusts coincidence to braid them. Rebus drinks, defies orders, gets suspended, repeats; by book eight the self-destruction is a schedule. It is the best Rebus, which is why it shows the formula so clearly.

— the honest librarian