Ian Rankin

Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.

Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife.

His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a school canteen.

He was educated at Beath High School, Cowdenbeath.

His parents were horrified when he then chose to study literature at university, as they had expected him to study for a trade.

Encouraged by his English teacher, he persisted and graduated in 1982 from the University of Edinburgh, where he also worked on a doctorate on Muriel Spark but did not complete it.

He has taught at the university and retains an involvement with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

He lived in Tottenham, London, for four years and then rural France for six while he developed his career as a novelist.

Before becoming a full-time novelist, he worked as a grape picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, college secretary and punk musician in a band called the Dancing Pigs.

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.

He was disconcerted by their classification as genre fiction.

The Scottish novelist Allan Massie, who tutored Rankin while Massie was writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh, reassured him by saying, "Do you think John Buchan ever worried about whether he was writing literature or not?"

Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels are set mainly in Edinburgh.

They are considered major contributions to the tartan noir genre.

Thirteen of the novels—plus one short story—were adapted as a television series on ITV, starring John Hannah as Rebus in series 1 and 2 (4 episodes) and Ken Stott in that role in series 3–5 (10 episodes).

His three-part documentary series on the subject of evil was broadcast on Channel 4 in December 2002.

In 2005, Rankin became the tenth best-selling writer in Britain, accounting for 10% of all crime fiction sold.

He writes under the pseudonym Jack Harvey as well.

In 2021, Rankin helped finish a draft by William McIlvanney, a prequel telling the story of an early case of McIlvanney's fictional detective Jack Laidlaw.

In 2005 he presented a 30-minute documentary on BBC Four called Rankin on the Staircase, in which he investigated the relationship between real-life cases and crime fiction.

It was loosely based on the Michael Peterson murder case, as covered in Jean-Xavier Lestrade's documentary series Death on the Staircase.

The same year, Rankin collaborated with folk musician Jackie Leven on the album Jackie Leven Said.

In 2007, Rankin appeared in programmes for BBC Four exploring the origins of his alter-ego character, John Rebus.

In these, titled "Ian Rankin's Hidden Edinburgh" and "Ian Rankin Investigates Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde," Rankin looks at the origins of the character and the events that led to his creation.

In the TV show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, he takes a trip through Edinburgh with writer/cook Anthony Bourdain.

In 2009, Rankin donated the short story "Fieldwork" to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors.

Rankin's story was published in the Earth collection.

In 2009 Rankin stated on Radio Five Live that he would start work on a five- or six-issue run on the comic book Hellblazer, although he may turn the story into a stand-alone graphic novel instead.

The Vertigo Comics panel at WonderCon 2009 confirmed that the story would be published as a graphic novel, Dark Entries, the second release from the company's Vertigo Crime imprint.

In 2013, Rankin co-wrote the play Dark Road with Mark Thomson, the artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre.

The play, which marked Rankin's play-writing debut, premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in September 2013.

McIlvanney, whom Rankin admires, had died in 2015 leaving the manuscript unfinished.

It was published under the name The Dark Remains.

In 2022, Rankin signed a deal with publisher Orion to write two new John Rebus novels.

Later that same year, he received a Knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature and charity as part of her Birthday Honours List.

Rankin is a regular contributor to the BBC Two arts programme Newsnight Review.

Rankin is the singer in the six-piece band Best Picture, formed by journalists Kenny Farquharson (The Times) and Euan McColl (The Scotsman) in 2017, and featuring Bobby Bluebell on guitar.

They released the single "Isabelle" on Oriel Records in October 2017.

They made their live debut at the Kendal Calling music festival on 28 July 2018.