The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives

IAN RANKIN

Born in Fife, Scotland, Rankin went to the University of Edinburgh, majoring in English. Writing profusely, he sold several short stories and then a slim novel, The Flood (1986), which had a very small print run. In 1987, he wrote his first John Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses, which also had a modest printing. After a spy novel, Watchman (1991), he returned to Rebus with Tooth and Nail (1992) and continued to write about the Scottish policeman until 2008, when Rebus took his last case in Exit Music. Rankin also wrote three novels as Jack Harvey in the early nineties: Witch Hunt, Bleeding Hearts, and Blood Hunt.

In 1991, he received a Chandler-Fulbright Award, with a substantial cash prize that had to be spent in America, which he then toured with his wife, Miranda.

Rankin’s breakout book was Black and Blue, which won the British Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger as the best novel of 1997. In 2005, he was given the highest honor bestowed by that organization when he received the Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement. He won the Best Novel Edgar^® in 2004 for Resurrection Men.

A television series based on the Rebus character began in 2000 with John Hannah in the title role; Ken Stott took over in 2005.

Achieving unprecedented success in the UK, Rankin still holds a Guinness world record for simultaneously occupying eight of the top ten spots on the Scottish bestseller list.

Ian Rankin lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two sons.