Series
Publication
St. Martin's Dead Letter (1999), 352 pages
Original publication date
1997-01
Collections
Genres
Subjects
Awards
Edgar Award (Nominee — Novel — 1998)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Winner — 1997)
This Mystery is Amazing! (#6 — 1999)
Description
Rebus is juggling four cases trying to nail one killer - who might just lead back to the infamous Bible John. And he's doing it under the scrutiny of an internal inquiry led by a man he has just accused of taking backhanders from Glasgow's Mr Big. As if this wasn't enough, there are TV cameras at his back investigating a miscarriage of justice, making Rebus a criminal in the eyes of a million or more viewers. Just one mistake is likely to mean an unpleasant and not particularly speedy death or, worse still, losing his job.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Carol420
Nearly 30 years after a serial killer dubbed Bible John abruptly retired after three vicious murders, he's back in the news again....which mean Inspector John rebus is back on the case. But 30 years have past...and Rebus wonders how the killer could possibly be the same one since he'd be now in his
I've yet to find an Ian Rankin novel that I have not enjoyed from start to finish. This author knows how to write a first class crime novel. His character of John Rebus is extraordinary. Sure he has his flaws but he operates with determination and a strong sense of old fashioned morals. Anyone that is a fan of Peter Robinson's Alan Banks books or the Stuart McBride's Logan McRea series will want to let Inspector John Rebus "join the party."
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80's. A young fan...a copy cat?... this possibility makes this case Rebus's worse nightmare walking.I've yet to find an Ian Rankin novel that I have not enjoyed from start to finish. This author knows how to write a first class crime novel. His character of John Rebus is extraordinary. Sure he has his flaws but he operates with determination and a strong sense of old fashioned morals. Anyone that is a fan of Peter Robinson's Alan Banks books or the Stuart McBride's Logan McRea series will want to let Inspector John Rebus "join the party."
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
In this, the 8th book in the Inspector Rebus series, we find our unkempt inspector trying to solve several seemingly unrelated cases. There's a man who's been found impaled on a fence, tied to a chair with a plastic bag over his head which some are wanting to call a suicide, though Rebus doesn't
Confused? So was I. I've read a few Rebus books and couldn't make heads nor tails out of this one. It started out well enough, and I was eager to continue exploring this 500 page (!) crime fiction novel which has won numerous awards and honours, but I got lost amidst the confusion of all the interwoven storylines that didn't seem to connect in a plausible way. Frustrating. But there's still plenty of intrigue and something irresistible about this unpleasant, grumpy detective that keeps me from declaring this one a total bomb.
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agree with that version of events. There's a serial killer who's offed three women so far that the media has named Johnny Bible, since it appears he is mimicking the methods of a serial killer who was active decades earlier, then known as Bible John. There's a snitch who turns up dead, and based on a phone number Rebus discovers at the man's house and the finding that the plastic bag man was an oil worker on the ocean rigs near Aberdeen he decides to visit that town, where he is convinced a thug, his girlfriend and his son are selling drugs to the bored oil workers when they come off their two-week shifts. Rebus accuses several policemen of being on the take and is badly beaten up a couple of times for putting his nose into affairs some people think don't concern him. He is also put under arrest and questioned, then shadowed 24/7 by a former colleague, since he is suspected of being Johnny Bible, even though eye witnesses maintain that Johnny Bible is much younger than he is. The narration also alternates between Rebus' and Bible John's activities as the latter attempts to find his copycat. In the midst of all this, our hard drinking inspector decides to go on the wagon. Confused? So was I. I've read a few Rebus books and couldn't make heads nor tails out of this one. It started out well enough, and I was eager to continue exploring this 500 page (!) crime fiction novel which has won numerous awards and honours, but I got lost amidst the confusion of all the interwoven storylines that didn't seem to connect in a plausible way. Frustrating. But there's still plenty of intrigue and something irresistible about this unpleasant, grumpy detective that keeps me from declaring this one a total bomb.
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LibraryThing member nbmars
Black and Blue is the eighth of the Inspector Rebus mystery/suspense series by Ian Rankin, and is considered to be a quintessential example of the “Tartan Noir” genre.
In the 1960’s, there was a serial killer in Scotland known as Bible John. After a while, he simply disappeared. Now there is
Discussion: Black and Blue won The Gold Dagger Award, given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for best crime novel of the year. It’s darker than the first Inspector Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, and more complicated, but richer for all that. It is called Black and Blue after the Rolling Stones album by the same name, and there are some sly allusions to its songs throughout the story.
Although the book has been translated into over 20 languages, there is no translation of the “English” one, but there is quite a bit of Scottish slang that sometimes makes it seem as if a translation is in order!
I think the think I like best about these books is that they seem very real.
For example, everybody throws up a lot: police or witnesses who see bodies, autopsy goers, heavy drinkers, and those trying to expectorate swallowed emotions.
The police get away with what they can – they cadge bootleg items; think nothing of picking up items in a dead man’s house that aren’t evidence but are now “unclaimed”; and they are eager to tap into the kindness of bartenders, restaurant owners, clothes purveyors, and others who might want to rely in turn on the generosity of police officers.
Inspector Rebus tries to be objective when it comes to whether or not someone (other than him, of course) is breaking the law, but this quality seems relatively rare in his environment; value judgments are constantly pitted against dedication to law enforcement.
Women may be looked at as sex objects by many of the male characters, but they nevertheless tend to be strong, savvy actors in these books.
Evaluation: Plot complications abound, but somehow they are tied together in a Kevin Bacon-esque kind of way. And while complex, involving drug gangs, the oil industry, and police corruption and misconduct past and present, they aren’t hard to follow. Nor does the author write in a way that makes it necessary for you to have read any other Inspector Rebus novel, although you don’t get much explanation in this book for Rebus’s dysfunctions (e.g., alcoholism, bouts of crying, churlishness, lose definition of morality, and lone wolf orientation).
I didn’t like this book as much as Knots & Crosses, but it was a personal thing with me. This book is certainly more intricate and well-developed, but I really don’t like spending time with drug gangs (in books or on television, or presumably, in real life). They tend to be very unpleasant people in whatever guise they appear. So that particular aspect didn’t appeal to me.
But this book is more highly thought of than Knots & Crosses, and it’s very noir - almost like a Pelecanos book – which should appeal to aficionados of that genre.
In the 1960’s, there was a serial killer in Scotland known as Bible John. After a while, he simply disappeared. Now there is
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an imitator, called Johnny Bible. Inspector Rebus wants desperately to find him. But so does Bible John! In a nice bit of black humor, Bible John doesn’t appreciate the inferior knock-off tarnishing his reputation. Nor does he like the renewed attention to his own case, having been successfully in hiding now for some time. So he too gets involved in the hunt for Johnny Bible, and as a matter of pride, wants to find him before the police do.Discussion: Black and Blue won The Gold Dagger Award, given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for best crime novel of the year. It’s darker than the first Inspector Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, and more complicated, but richer for all that. It is called Black and Blue after the Rolling Stones album by the same name, and there are some sly allusions to its songs throughout the story.
Although the book has been translated into over 20 languages, there is no translation of the “English” one, but there is quite a bit of Scottish slang that sometimes makes it seem as if a translation is in order!
I think the think I like best about these books is that they seem very real.
For example, everybody throws up a lot: police or witnesses who see bodies, autopsy goers, heavy drinkers, and those trying to expectorate swallowed emotions.
The police get away with what they can – they cadge bootleg items; think nothing of picking up items in a dead man’s house that aren’t evidence but are now “unclaimed”; and they are eager to tap into the kindness of bartenders, restaurant owners, clothes purveyors, and others who might want to rely in turn on the generosity of police officers.
Inspector Rebus tries to be objective when it comes to whether or not someone (other than him, of course) is breaking the law, but this quality seems relatively rare in his environment; value judgments are constantly pitted against dedication to law enforcement.
Women may be looked at as sex objects by many of the male characters, but they nevertheless tend to be strong, savvy actors in these books.
Evaluation: Plot complications abound, but somehow they are tied together in a Kevin Bacon-esque kind of way. And while complex, involving drug gangs, the oil industry, and police corruption and misconduct past and present, they aren’t hard to follow. Nor does the author write in a way that makes it necessary for you to have read any other Inspector Rebus novel, although you don’t get much explanation in this book for Rebus’s dysfunctions (e.g., alcoholism, bouts of crying, churlishness, lose definition of morality, and lone wolf orientation).
I didn’t like this book as much as Knots & Crosses, but it was a personal thing with me. This book is certainly more intricate and well-developed, but I really don’t like spending time with drug gangs (in books or on television, or presumably, in real life). They tend to be very unpleasant people in whatever guise they appear. So that particular aspect didn’t appeal to me.
But this book is more highly thought of than Knots & Crosses, and it’s very noir - almost like a Pelecanos book – which should appeal to aficionados of that genre.
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LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis: Rebus is out on a limb, again. He's been sent to Scotland to check on a murder. He's also involved in the re-investigation of two serial killers and he's being investigated for his role in the cover-up of framing a man for a murder. He is put under the watchful eye of Jack Morton, a
Review: At least this book had a happier ending. Rebus doesn't seem to be wallowing in his desperation as much and the bad guys are almost all caught..
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former partner, who gets him off of alcohol and cigarettes and saves Rebus several times.Review: At least this book had a happier ending. Rebus doesn't seem to be wallowing in his desperation as much and the bad guys are almost all caught..
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LibraryThing member Joycepa
Another grimy, gritty book, with much more of the Scots language in it making it difficult to follow at times.
The plot is complex, involving a current serial killer who is copycatting a never-caught one of 25 years previous (the latter based on a real serial killer, Bible John). Rebus becomes
A complicated plot, at times hard to follow due to the bewildering cast of both major and minor characters, whom Rankin just manages to keep distinct. Interesting information on the economics of off-shore oil and the working of the fields, well integrated into the plot so as not to become either annoying or distracting.
The plot is complex, involving a current serial killer who is copycatting a never-caught one of 25 years previous (the latter based on a real serial killer, Bible John). Rebus becomes
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obsessed with both. Yet at the same time, he is investigating the murder of an offshore oil rig worker. Along with carrying out these investigations, which take him from Ediburg to Glasgow to Aberdeen and the North Sea oil fields, Rebus is under investigation for the possible framing years before of a criminal by Rebus' mentor, whom Rebus assisted.A complicated plot, at times hard to follow due to the bewildering cast of both major and minor characters, whom Rankin just manages to keep distinct. Interesting information on the economics of off-shore oil and the working of the fields, well integrated into the plot so as not to become either annoying or distracting.
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LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
Rebus, in trouble again, juggles two new cases whilst dealing with the fact that his mentor was probably corrupt and has committed suicide leaving Rebus to carry the can when a TV programme reopens an old murder case. If this weren't enough for our hero, he also faces up to, and tries to deal with,
This book, as one comes to expect with Ian Rankin, drives on from page one to the last sentence. Excellent!
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his drink dependency: something has got to give....This book, as one comes to expect with Ian Rankin, drives on from page one to the last sentence. Excellent!
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LibraryThing member Romonko
This is the sixth book in the John Rebus series, but I felt like I was reading a different book this time. Rankin appears to have turned a corner with his character with this book. I always loved Rebus's character and his human flaws, but in this book we see Rebus totally uncovered. His character
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is so beautifully displayed in this book. The story itself was complex. There were three apparently different cases that Rebus was investigating and he continues he begins to think that all three are actually connected in some way. He does his investigations almost completely single-handed while his career is in an uproar and while he is under investigation. This is a powerful, complex and totally un-put-downable book. I cannot wait to read more Rebus, and with the way this one ends, you just know that John Rebus is not yet done with this particular investigation. What a great book! Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I'm trying to read as many of the older Rebus books as I can get my hands on. This is #9 in the series and really, really good. It won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger, the highest award for a mystery book published in the UK, in 1996.
Rebus has been moved to another police station in
Rebus has been moved to another police station in
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Edinburgh due to some altercation with his previous supervisor that was no doubt discussed in Let it Bleed, the 8th book in the series which I haven't read. There's an investigation into an old case that may get Rebus into trouble but he's more interested in a serial killer that is raping and murdering young women all across Scotland. He has hit in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh so far. The press are calling him Johnny Bible because his method is similar to Bible John, a serial killer who killed 3 women in Glasgow in the 60's and then stopped. Rebus is not officially on the case but he's helping out and he is obsessed by the link with the older case. With his usual tact and discretion Rebus manages to trample on the toes of police in Glasgow and Aberdeen as well as his home town. He is also investigating the mysterious death of an oil worker in Edinburgh that leads him to Aberdeen. Finally, the inspector investigating the old case assigns Jack Morton, an old friend of Rebus', to stay with him 24 hours a day. Morton and Rebus criss-cross Scotland investigating the oil worker's death, the Johnny Bible case and some drug deals. While they spend time together Morton convinces Rebus to go on the wagon as he has done. It's strange to read about Rebus turning down drinks but it seems to work for him because he manages to solve the oilman's death and he is instrumental in having the drug dealers caught. However, he is one step behind on the Johnny Bible case, one step behind Bible John. Yes, Bible John is alive and he resents the "Upstart" as he calls him. Show Less
LibraryThing member -Eva-
Rebus is great form, making loads of enemies while trying to find out why an oil-rig worker has been murdered - or was he? Big Ger makes a hilarious appearance and we are also treated to a tour of northern Scotland with its various personalities and dialects. As usual, Rankin does a bang-up job of
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characterization and dialogue and when the higher-ups are trying to frame Rebus in order to keep him from investigating a case they don't want solved, the stakes are as high as can be. And with the added pressure of trying to find a serial killer who in turn is trying to find his own copy-cat, Rebus is up to his ears in trouble. This is one of my favorites of an already great series. Show Less
LibraryThing member weemadarthur
Rebus carries out an investigation into a serial killer, the murder of an oil rig worker from Aberdeen, a possible drug ring in a disco, and Glasgow's version of the Godfather. All the while he is under investigation for a case he was involved in years ago. Excellent fare. Possibly the best Rebus
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novel from Ian Rankin. Show Less
LibraryThing member ivanova
Can I add three more stars? Yes, it is that good.
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
As usual, John Rebus is in trouble with the higher-ups. So when it seems as if a past serial killer has returned, he is off in Aberdeen investigating the murder of an oilman. Excellent story.
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
At the time of its release Ian Rankin declared that this was the finest Scottish crime novel yet published. This might seem rather a brash statement for someone normally so self-deprecating as Rankin, though perhaps he was right. Of course, it depends upon what one considers as a Scottish crime
Rankin has subsequently written Scottish crime novels that are even better than 'Black and Blue', though it certainly marked him moving up to a new level. There had already been a few novels in the Rebus series, and some of them had been very strong performances, but this one showed a greater assurance and depth.
Rebus had always been aware of the Edinburgh's dark history, but in 'Black and Blue' the undercurrents are drawn from further afield. As the novel opens, there is a major investigation across all Scotland's police forces (this was written long before the rationalisation of the different police services into one body, Police Scotland) into a series of killings of young women by an unknown assailant dubbed 'Johnny Bible' by the tabloid press. This is a reference to the real spate of unsolved killings of young women in Glasgow in the late 1960s by a murderer who became known as 'Bible John'. One of Johnny Bible's victims had been killed in Glasgow, the second in Edinburgh, and the latest in Aberdeen
Rebus remembered the Bible John killings which coincided with the end of his school days and his joining the army, and felt that somehow they had soured his memories of the late Sixties. As the new investigation into the apparent copycat killings widens, he has been doing his own research, scouring newspapers from the time, and concocting his own theories. This is principally a consequence of his own obsession with unsolved crimes. It is, however, also a means of distraction from growing public outrage about the death of a prisoner who had committed suicide. The prisoner had always maintained that he was innocent of the crime for which he had been convicted and that he had been framed by the police. Rebus had been involved in that investigation, very early in his career in CID, and he is now being plagued by television journalists who are preparing a documentary about the dead prisoner's claims.
Rebus is, however, drawn into an investigation of his own when the body of a man on leave from his job on a North Sea oil rig is found in a run down Edinburgh estate. Certain characteristics of the death lead Rebus to a hitman, formerly employed by one of Glasgow's leading gangland figures. Other associations lead Rebus to Aberdeen, where he finds himself in the fringes of the investigation of the latest Johnny Bible killing.
There are several interlaced themes throughout the novel, and Rankin manages them dextrously. Weaving real crimes into a novel can be dangerous, particularly when friends and relatives of the victims might still be alive, but Rankin handles it with great sensitivity. Rebus is at his best here, with his own demons and frailties tested as never before. This novel marked Rankin hitting mid-season form, and pitched him right into the front rank of British crime writing, where he has stayed ever since.
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novel. There had certainly previously been some fine crime novels and stories by Scots writers (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Val McDermid are just two that leap immediately to mind), though perhaps fewer actually set in Scotland.Rankin has subsequently written Scottish crime novels that are even better than 'Black and Blue', though it certainly marked him moving up to a new level. There had already been a few novels in the Rebus series, and some of them had been very strong performances, but this one showed a greater assurance and depth.
Rebus had always been aware of the Edinburgh's dark history, but in 'Black and Blue' the undercurrents are drawn from further afield. As the novel opens, there is a major investigation across all Scotland's police forces (this was written long before the rationalisation of the different police services into one body, Police Scotland) into a series of killings of young women by an unknown assailant dubbed 'Johnny Bible' by the tabloid press. This is a reference to the real spate of unsolved killings of young women in Glasgow in the late 1960s by a murderer who became known as 'Bible John'. One of Johnny Bible's victims had been killed in Glasgow, the second in Edinburgh, and the latest in Aberdeen
Rebus remembered the Bible John killings which coincided with the end of his school days and his joining the army, and felt that somehow they had soured his memories of the late Sixties. As the new investigation into the apparent copycat killings widens, he has been doing his own research, scouring newspapers from the time, and concocting his own theories. This is principally a consequence of his own obsession with unsolved crimes. It is, however, also a means of distraction from growing public outrage about the death of a prisoner who had committed suicide. The prisoner had always maintained that he was innocent of the crime for which he had been convicted and that he had been framed by the police. Rebus had been involved in that investigation, very early in his career in CID, and he is now being plagued by television journalists who are preparing a documentary about the dead prisoner's claims.
Rebus is, however, drawn into an investigation of his own when the body of a man on leave from his job on a North Sea oil rig is found in a run down Edinburgh estate. Certain characteristics of the death lead Rebus to a hitman, formerly employed by one of Glasgow's leading gangland figures. Other associations lead Rebus to Aberdeen, where he finds himself in the fringes of the investigation of the latest Johnny Bible killing.
There are several interlaced themes throughout the novel, and Rankin manages them dextrously. Weaving real crimes into a novel can be dangerous, particularly when friends and relatives of the victims might still be alive, but Rankin handles it with great sensitivity. Rebus is at his best here, with his own demons and frailties tested as never before. This novel marked Rankin hitting mid-season form, and pitched him right into the front rank of British crime writing, where he has stayed ever since.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
Better than average but not really my preferred style of police procedural mystery - Rebus has too many problems which makes me feel tired and depressed... but the actual mystery/detection part of the book was excellent.
LibraryThing member Andrew-theQM
A very enjoyable read in the series, 5 stars. This is a much 'bigger' book than the others in the series so far. It made me want to read on and on and on. At times it almost had a feeling of a spy book, especially in the latter parts of the book. Good interplay in the second half of the book
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between Rebus and Jack Morton (who figured in the first book Knots and Crosses). The book also was much wider in its scope, taking part in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Shetlands and the oilfields in the North Sea. Would recommend. Show Less
LibraryThing member MissBrangwen
I always enjoy the Rebus novels, and this one was no exception. There is a change of scene in this book because Rebus spends a lot of time in Aberdeen and also in Glasgow and on the Shetland Islands. He is following several cases and one of them is connected to the oil industry, so he even visits
I also thought that this book was very well written and I like the development of Rebus as a character, who reflects a little more on the world and his role in it, and on his work in the police. The cases were exciting, too, although once again it was difficult for me to keep all the men in this novel sorted (all the criminals as well as the policemen - there are just too many characters and they are too alike!). Another thing that I did not like was that the middle part felt a bit lengthy and I think it could have been shorter.
Apart from that this was a very good read and I am looking forward to the next Rebus novel, although I think I will turn to other series in the months to come as this was such a lengthy one.
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an oil rig. All these settings were extremely fascinating to me! I also thought that this book was very well written and I like the development of Rebus as a character, who reflects a little more on the world and his role in it, and on his work in the police. The cases were exciting, too, although once again it was difficult for me to keep all the men in this novel sorted (all the criminals as well as the policemen - there are just too many characters and they are too alike!). Another thing that I did not like was that the middle part felt a bit lengthy and I think it could have been shorter.
Apart from that this was a very good read and I am looking forward to the next Rebus novel, although I think I will turn to other series in the months to come as this was such a lengthy one.
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LibraryThing member DrLed
Synopsis: Rebus is out on a limb, again. He's been sent to Scotland to check on a murder. He's also involved in the re-investigation of two serial killers and he's being investigated for his role in the cover-up of framing a man for a murder. He is put under the watchful eye of Jack Morton, a
Review: At least this book had a happier ending. Rebus doesn't seem to be wallowing in his desperation as much and the bad guys are almost all caught..
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former partner, who gets him off of alcohol and cigarettes and saves Rebus several times.Review: At least this book had a happier ending. Rebus doesn't seem to be wallowing in his desperation as much and the bad guys are almost all caught..
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LibraryThing member MeredithYvonne
Black and Blue was the first Inspector Rebus novel I read by Ian Rankin. It's kind of in the middle of the series, but you don't need to start with the first book to know what's going one. The lead character is Inspector Rebus of the Edinbrough police. He's cranky, divorced, and drinks a little too
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much, but he's wicked smart. I love these books because the multiple story lines are compelling and not until the very end of the book do you really understand what they all mean. Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
3.5* Better than average but not really my preferred style of police procedural mystery - Rebus has too many problems which makes me feel tired and depressed... but the actual mystery/detection part of the book was excellent.
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0312966776 / 9780312966775
Physical description
352 p.; 7 inches
Pages
352