Ian Rankin (born April 28 1960 in Fife, Scotland) is one of the best-selling crime writers in the United Kingdom, and one of the world's foremost writers in the genre. Before becoming a full-time novelist he worked as grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh he moved to London for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist.

He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two sons.

Rankin is best known for his Inspector Rebus novels, which are mainly set in Edinburgh. Five of the novels were televised on ITV, starring John Hannah and then Ken Stott, hailed by many fans of the series as an ideal fit for the character. The first adaptations with Stott as Rebus, The Falls and Fleshmarket Close were screened in early 2006.

Rankin did not set out to be a crime writer. He thought his first novels Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek were mainstream books, more in keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and even Muriel Spark (the subject of Rankin's PhD studies), and was disconcerted by their classification as genre fiction. He was reassured by Scottish novelist, Allan Massie, who tutored Rankin while Massie was writer-in-residence at Edinburgh University: who would want to be a dry academic writer when "they could be John Buchan?"

Rankin has been elected as a Hawthornden Fellow and won the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He has also won two Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Dagger prizes for short stories and in 1997 the CWA Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction for Black and Blue (which was also short-listed for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for best novel). He won the Edgar in 2004 for Resurrection Men. In 2005 he was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger to mark a lifetime's achievement in crime writing. He has honorary doctorates, one from the University of Abertay Dundee and one, more recently, from the University of St Andrews. In June 2002 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the Golden Jubilee Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature.

He is a regular contributor to the BBC Two arts programme Late Review. His 3-part documentary series on the subject of evil was broadcast on Channel 4 in December 2002. In 2005 he collaborated with folk musician Jackie Leven on the album Jackie Leven Said.

Perhaps surprisingly, he has stated on a number of occasions that one of his favourite novels is Rivals by Jilly Cooper.

Novels

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To date he has written at least 21 novels, including:

Inspector Rebus novels

• Knots and Crosses (1987)
• Hide and Seek (1991)
• Tooth and Nail (1992 - originally published as Wolfman)
• Strip Jack (1992)
• The Black Book (1993)
• Mortal Causes (1994)
• Let it Bleed (1996)
• Black and Blue (1997)
• The Hanging Garden (1998)
• Dead Souls (1999)
• Set in Darkness (2000)
• The Falls (2001)
• Resurrection Men (2002)
• A Question of Blood (2003)
• Fleshmarket Close (2004)
• The Naming of the Dead (2006 - to be released on 18 October)

Inspector Rebus collections

• Rebus — The Early Years and Crosses, Hide and Seek, Tooth and Nail
• Rebus — The St. Leonards Years Jack, The Black Book, Mortal Causes
• Rebus — Three Great Novels it Bleed, Black and Blue, The Hanging Garden
• Rebus — Capital Crimes Souls, Set in Darkness, The Falls

Jack Harvey novels

• Witch Hunt (1993)
• Bleeding Hearts (1994)
• Blood Hunt (1995)

Other books

• The Flood (1986 re-released with new introduction in 2005)
• Death is not the End (1998) (novella)
• A Good Hanging and Other Stories (1992) (short stories)
• Beggars Banquet (2002) — short stories (collection featuring both Rebus and other short stories, and Death is not the End)
• Watchman (1988, reissued with a new introduction in 2004)
• A Personal Journey (2005)

Recordings

• Jackie Leven Said (Cooking vinyl, 2005), with Jackie Leven

External links

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• Official site
• Macavity's Interview
• Rebus Fan Club Site
• Guardian Books profile, with links to further articles.
• The Reykjavík Grapevine Interview

Ian Rankin | 1960 births | Living people | Natives of Fife | Edinburghers | Scottish crime writers | Scottish mystery writers | Scottish novelists | University of Edinburgh alumni

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