In the Heat of the Night is a 1965 mystery novel by John Ball set in the community of Wells, South Carolina.

The main character is a black police detective named Virgil Tibbs passing through the small town during a time of bigotry and the civil rights movement.

The novel is the basis of the 1967 award-winning film of the same name, directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sidney Poitier, as well as a subsequent television series.

Ball would feature Tibbs in the subsequent novels The Cool Cottontail (1966), Johnny Get Your Gun (1969), Five Pieces of Jade (1972), The Eyes of Buddha (1976), Then Came Violence (1980) and Singapore (1986).

Sam Wood, a respected police officer in Wells, South Carolina, patrols the city every night.

He reports the body, which is soon tentatively identified as that of Maestro Enrico Mantoli, the conductor and lead organizer of the city's upcoming music festival.

Gillespie has him booked, whereupon Virgil states that he does not believe Oberst to be guilty, because he is lefthanded and the victim was hit from the right.

Sam drives to the home of George Endicott, a city councilman at whose house Mantoli's daughter is a guest.

Gillespie assigns Virgil to Mantoli's death and takes him to a garage run by a black mechanic named Jess, who lends him a used car.

Virgil gathers information about the music festival, and as he and Sam leave, he announces his intention to speak with Oberst.

Oberst also states that he took Mantoli's wallet, which he found by his body, and reported it to Mr. Jennings, the banker for whom he works.

There, George announces that Kaufmann has secured a conductor for the musical festival and asks him to personally conduct one show.

He also figured out that Ralph often visited Delores, and when she believed herself to be pregnant, he had the idea to rob Mantoli of enough money to pay for an abortion.