In the Heat of the Night (novel)

infobox Book |
name = In the Heat of the Night
author = John Ball
country = United States
language = English
series = Virgil Tibbs
genre = Mystery
publisher =
pub_date = 1965
media_type = Print
followed_by = The Cool CottontailBook by John Ball, published in 1965. It is set in the fictional community of Wells, North Carolina. The main character is an African American police detective named Virgil Tibbs who is passing through the small town, during a time of bigotry and the civil rights movement. Tibbs agrees to help the local police force, commanded by Chief Bill Gillespie, investigate a murder.

Virgil Tibbs is an experienced Pasadena homicide investigator, but when local police officer Sam Wood first meets him, he is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is taken into custody and questioned solely because he is African American. This, in the opening chapter of the novel, sets the mood for the story and tells the reader of the struggle and the prejudice he experiences in the South.

The novel is also the basis of the 1967 award-winning film "In the Heat of the Night" with Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs. The novel is followed by "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).

The major characters of the book are:
*Virgil Tibbs, detective, investigator, homicide specialist
*Sam Wood, a police officer who works night shifts
*Bill Gillespie, police chief