Saints of the Shadow Bible is the nineteenth instalment in the bestselling Inspector Rebus series of crime novels, published in 2013. Like the preceding Rebus novel, this one draws its title from a Jackie Leven lyric.
The investigations in the novel take place in February or March 2013 against the background of the dissolution of regional police forces as they are merged into Police Scotland.Malcolm Fox’s unit, the “Complaints,” is disappearing, and he undertakes an investigation on behalf of the Solicitor General in the hopes of finding a place in the new organization. DI Siobhan Clarke is stationed at Gayfield Square, but follows important cases to Torphichen and Wester Hailes police stations. John Rebus has succeeded in rejoining the CID, albeit as a Detective Sergeant instead of a Detective Inspector. He works with both Clarke and Fox, but is primarily investigating a long-defunct police station, Summerhall, where he was assigned in 1982 as a newly-minted detective.
