For our second "contemporary author" discussion of 2009, we discussed Ian Rankin's A Question of Blood, one of the later volumes in his critically acclaimed "Inspector Rebus" series, set in Ireland. [Note: The title of the book really is A Question of Blood, despite the title "The Question of Blood" on the cover reproduced at right!]
This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on March 26, 2009. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.
"A Question of Blood" is the first book I've read by Rankin. I didn't like the main character as a person but enjoyed the mystery (on the other hand, I really enjoy the Robert B. Parker dvd series Tom Selleck is producing and that main character is similar to Rebus in many ways).
In a murdery mystery one must always be suspicious when there is a survivor so I wasn't too surprised at whodunnit...
I found the book to be depressing. One really couldn't rise above one's "station" regardless of talent or inclination. The students pretty well knew where they'd end up after graduation.
And I was frequently lost with all the slang and brand names.
But overall the mystery itself was satisfying.