Black Book

A missing prostitute is found buried at a local landmark, and the scene drags Rebus straight back twenty years to an unsolved murder. He is convinced the prime suspect from that old case has come back to finish the job, and the new death reads to him like a signature. But the past is not staying buried, whatever the calendar says. A buried prostitute is a case many would file quietly; Rebus files it loudly.

His suspicion settles on a member of the Scottish Parliament, and the investigation starts to feel like pushing a boulder uphill. The powers above Rebus take a quiet look at the case and decide it needs a steadier hand, so in walks a high-flying copper, drafted in by his superiors to oversee things. Robert Cavanah plays that man, DI Dalcastle, and the friction between the two of them is the engine of the episode. Dalcastle has his own way of working, and neither man is about to change for the other. Rebus grinds along beside him, trading leads and patience.

David Robb is Daniel Raeburn, and the web around him includes Sarah Collier as Juliet Raeburn, Bryan Lowe as Andy, Lynsey Baxter as Belinda, Ian Grieve as Colin Morton and Stuart McQuarrie as Martin Cowan. Jennifer Black's DCS Gill Templer and Claire Price's DS Siobhan Clarke do what they can from the station. Ian Rankin wrote it with Daniel Boyle and David Kane, and Roger Gartland directed. The ensemble does solid work, but the case belongs to Stott and Cavanah.

Ken Stott plays the whole thing with the short fuse of a man who has been right before and been ignored for it. The landmark and the fresh grave point one way, and the episode lets Rebus be right without letting him enjoy it.

Some crimes refuse to stay buried. This one never had any intention of it.