Saints of the Shadow Bible is the nineteenth instalment in the bestselling Inspector Rebus series of crime novels, published in 2013.

[5] 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.

Also relevant to the cases is the upcoming 2014 Scottish independence referendum; a Justice Minister, whose death Clarke is investigating, is a figurehead for the Yes campaign, while Rebus’s Summerhall colleague Gilmour, Fox’s target, is a prominent No supporter.

Rebus ends up using his confrontational techniques (intimidation and threats, recruiting snitches, bargaining with gangsters) to assist both Clarke and Fox.

Stefan Gilmour, the DI, tests Rebus by allowing him to investigate a watch buried with a man named Joseph Blay, who was hanged for murder in 1963.