Ian Rankin

News:February 1999
Well, it's 1999, and here I am writing something new for my web pages. 1998 was something of an 'annus mirabilis', with the books selling better than ever - fairly flying out the bookshop doors, in fact. All my Rebus backlist is now available from Orion, and looks handsome as a set. I finished the year with the publication of a novella, Death is not the End, which (much altered) forms one of the sub-plots of Dead Souls, the new (and cheap!) full-length Rebus adventure. I also ended the year with news that the first three positions in the year's Scottish bestseller list were filled by Rebus titles, Black & Blue being at number one. Heartening indeed.
So to Dead Souls, which started life as a jumble of ideas, a lot of them coming from newspaper headlines. I was already interested in the phenomenon of 'the missing' (ie: missing persons), and had written about it in the novella. There's a famous, ongoing case here in Scotland of a woman who left or was abducted from her home in the quiet town of Elgin, leaving it looking like the Marie Celeste. That fascinated me. So there's a missing person in the new book, who happens to be the son of a flame of Rebus's from high school days. Another news story concerned killers who, having served time in the countries where they'd committed their crimes, were being deported back home to Scotland. So that went into the book, too. Then there's the topical story of paedophiles who are released back into the community without any form of ongoing or proven treatment, rehabilitation, or surveillance....
I enjoy weaving disparate elements together, turning them (hopefully) into satisfyingly complex intertwined storylines. Dead Souls is about the way past events can affect present lives. It takes John Rebus back to his childhood home. And it follows an ex-con as he returns to Edinburgh with scores to settle. Speaking objectively, at £9.99 in hardcover, it's almost criminal, definitely wicked, and certainly a steal!
I'm always being asked about TV. The latest news I have is that John Hannah has signed up to play Rebus, but has asked for a new pilot script to be written. Lots of people down the years have suggested actors to play Rebus; no one came up with John Hannah's name. But he's a brilliant actor, and he's the same age Rebus was in Knots & Crosses.... More news as I get it.
I'll be spending a good portion of the coming year 'on tour': the UK in February, Canada in June, Australia (Melbourne Festival) in August, USA in October, and Bahrain in Nov/Dec. I'll also be assuming the title of Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association in April, which will take up a good deal of my time. But somewhere in between, I have to write a new novel. In fact, I've already started it, and have announced that it's to be the first in a trilogy concerning the new Scottish Parliament (don't worry: it'll be low on politics, high on sleaze). But I'm now panicking at the thought of an interconnected 1,000-page plus trilogy. So maybe I'll change my mind. I don't want to say too much about 'book one' (working title): I always end up changing the plot halfway through the final draft anyway....
Best wishes to everyone interested in my work. And thanks to Ralph and Liz for this wonderful website!