Ian Rankin

(born 1960 -) - Cardenden, Fife

Ian Rankin grew up in Cardenden in Fife, where he was locally educated before going on to study at Edinburgh University. Ian was always a prolific writer, having won prize for poetry before reaching university and more awards at university.

He never gave up on his writing, but did undertake a varied range of jobs while at university, including; chicken factory worker, alcohol researcher (lucky man), grape picker and tax collector.

It was while Ian was supposed to be reading for his PhD in English Literature that he started writing novels, the third of which would become the first in his Rebus series, Knots and Crosses.

After running out of funding for his post-graduate study, Ian found himself in London and married to his Miranda Harvey, whom he had met at university. In London he started working at the National Folktale Centre before moving on to the 'HI-FI Review' as firstly, assistant editor and then editor.

In 1988 Ian became a Hawthornden Fellow and was a guest of Hawthornden Castle Writer's Retreat along with four other published writers, in Lasswade just outside Edinburgh.

Ian has won many awards for his writing and his contribution to literature. He won the Chandler Fulbright Award in 1991-1992 and has won umpteen awards from the Crime Writers' Association, including; two CWA Daggers for Short Stories, the CWA Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction and the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. He has also received two Honorary Doctorates from the University of Abertay Dundee and St. Andrews University. And in the Queen's Golden Jubilee Honours list Ian was awarded an OBE for services to literature.

His Rebus books are being made into television series starring Ken Stott, who has taken over the role of the hard-boiled detective from John Hannah, and he continues to write. Ian spends his time in Edinburgh, London and France with his wife and two sons. Exit Music was promised to be his final DI Rebus novel; his next book, Doors Open, will be published in late 2008.

• The Flood - 1986
• Knots and Crosses - 1987
• Watchman - 1988
• Westwind - 1990
• Hide and Seek - 1991
• A Good Hanging and Other Stories - 1992
• Strip Jack - 1992
• Wolfman (re-issued as Tooth and Nail in 1998) - 1992
• The Black Book - 1993
• Witch Hunt (writing as Jack Harvey) - 1993
• Bleeding Hearts (writing as Jack Harvey) - 1994
• Mortal Causes - 1994
• Blood Hunt (writing as Jack Harvey) - 1995
• Let It Bleed - 1995
• Black and Blue - 1997
• Death is Not the End - 1998
• The Hanging Garden - 1998
• Dead Souls - 1999
• Set in Darkness - 2000
• The Falls - 2001
• Beggars Banquet - 2002
• Resurrection Men - 2002
• A Question of Blood - 2003
• Rebus: The Lost Years, containing 'Let it Bleed', 'Black & Blue', 'The Hanging Garden' - 2003
• Fleshmarket Close - 2004
• Three Great Novels: Capital Crimes, containing 'Dead Souls', 'Set in Darkness' and 'The Falls') - 2005
• Rebus's Scotland - 2005
• The Naming of the Dead - 2006
• Exit Music - 2007
• Doors Open - 2008