A Question of Blood
Ian Rankin
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Little, Brown & Co.
ISBN: 0316095648

An Inspector Rebus Novel. In what seems to be an American-style crime in a posh Edinburgh boarding school, Inspectors Rebus & Clarke search for the story behind the killing of two students, the wounding of another, & the suicide of the shooter.

A Question of Blood is the 14th mystery featuring John Rebus, a Scottish police inspector with an overpowering yen for the tipple, & a barren bachelor life.

As with all Ian Rankin books, there is satisfying police procedure & plenty of forensic science. It is, however, Rebus' unique style of ferreting out the truth that holds together this complex story of a rampage of revenge. What did the dead man have against these privileged young men, & why are two Army investigators sniffing around the case?

Incidentally, in A Question of Blood, Rebus is himself under suspicion of murder. A criminal who had been giving Clarke a hard time, is found burnt to death in his apartment. The next day Rebus shows up with heavily bandaged hands, & a case of drunken blackout. The fact that Rebus was seen in the company of the dead man the evening before, doesn't help.

In following the clues, Rebus & Clarke interview a parade of contemporary Scottish society from petty criminals & angry teenagers to privileged politicians & evasive parents.

A Question of Blood also involves Rebus' family ties, what little there is of them.

If you enjoy Dickensian dramas of amoral, callow & disaffected people, with a hero who is barely an inch on the right side of the law, who doggedly keeps himself on the trail of the truth, then you are going to relish A Question of Blood. It is atmospheric & well written.

Rebus reminds me a little of J. A. Jance's J. P. Beaumont, before he got clean & sober.

More from Ian Rankin:
Resurrection Men
The Falls
A Good Hanging
The Black Book
Black and Blue & many more.
(02/01/04)

Rebecca