The Nature of Things

One of my favorite writers of mysteries for many years has been Ian Rankin. By now, his main character, Inspector John Rebus, feels like an old friend. A rather disreputable but never dull old friend. This is the twenty-fifth Rebus mystery and I've read them all. I'm happy to say that the quality of the writing has not flagged. Midnight and Blue finds the now former Inspector Rebus in prison, HMP Saughton in Edinburgh. He is serving his sentence alongside gang leader Daryl Christie, who "runs" Trinity Hall where Rebus is housed. Christie has vowed to protect Rebus because he is grateful for his role in the death of Morris Gerald ("Big Ger") Cafferty who long-time readers of the series remember as Rebus' nemesis. When we meet Rebus this time, he has already spent three months mingling with the general prison population at Saughton and getting to know them. Then, one of his fellow prisoners, a minor thief named Jackie Simpson, is murdered in his cell and ...