The ''Inspector Rebus'' books are a series of

detective novels Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

by the Scottish author Sir Ian Rankin. The novels, centred on

Detective Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

John Rebus, are mostly based in and around

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. They are considered an important contribution to ' Tartan Noir'.

Overview

Genre and Literary Influences

The Rebus novel series began in 1987 when Ian Rankin published ''

Knots and Crosses ''Knots and Crosses'' (also written ''Knots & Crosses'') is a 1987 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the first of the Inspector Rebus novels. It was written while Rankin was a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. In the introd ...

''; his intention was to write a standalone variation on '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

, set in contemporary Edinburgh. He was at first upset that bookshops shelved it in the

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

section, but he gradually accepted the fact that Rebus was to be the protagonist of a detective series: his goal became to write "on the surface a crime novel that was going to sell loads of copies, but which would be accepted by my peers in academia as serious Scottish fiction." From 1991 through 2007, in fact, Rankin produced a new Rebus novel every year, and there have been seven "late" novels from 2012–22, with a retired Rebus. The 1997 book, '' Black & Blue'', which linked Rebus's case with the unsolved Bible John murders, achieved the double goal of sales and prestige. First, it was a best-seller and the backlist of Rebus novels came into high demand. Second, it won the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

Gold Dagger Award, but also came into consideration on more general lists of the best Scottish novels or writers, and was discussed in the British press as a novel which trangressed the boundaries of genre. The very fact that in 2002 a book on ''Black & Blue'' was commissioned for the Continuum Contemporaries Series, alongside authors such as A.S. Byatt, Arundhati Roy, and Nobellists Kazuo Ishiguro and Toni Morrison, makes it clear that Rankin had become a "serious" author on the international stage. Rebus himself has continued to wrestle with his own "Hyde" aspects, particularly when confronted with old cases where his recklessness may have led to injustice or death. Other characters have borne out this theme of the dual self, for example the Wolfman serial killer in '' Tooth and Nail'' and the former Nazi Lintz in '' The Hanging Garden''. Most importantly, Rebus has faced off since '' The Black Book'' (1992) with 'Big Ger' Cafferty, a vicious gangster about his own age. Rankin compares the relationship between Rebus and Cafferty to that of Wringhim and Gilmartin (the devil himself) in the Scottish crime classic '' Confessions of a Justified Sinner'' (1824) by

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...

Place and Time

Except for '' Tooth and Nail'', all the Rebus novels are set in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and most of them in

. Rankin and interviewers such as Gavin Esler have remarked that the city is a character in the novels. Early on, in 1992, Rankin published '' A Good Hanging'', a series of twelve stories set at different times of the year in different Edinburgh neighborhoods. In 1993, in '' The Black Book'', he also associated Rebus for the first time with a real Edinburgh police station, St Leonard's, and thereafter began to place Rebus in real locations in the city, such as the

Oxford Bar The Oxford Bar is a public house situated on Young Street, in the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The pub is chiefly notable for having been featured in Sir Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series of novels. The Oxford Bar, or The Ox, is John Rebus ...

and an apartment in Arden Street. In 2005 Rankin published ''Rebus's Scotland: A Personal Journey'', and Rebus-themed walking tours of Edinburgh have been available. Christopher Ward explores in depth the relationship of Rebus to Edinburgh in his 2010 M.Phil thesis at the University of Glasgow, "It's hard to be a saint in the city: Notions of city in the Rebus novels of Ian Rankin." Most of the novels include both scenes set in neglected or criminal neighborhoods and others set in casinos, deluxe hotels, or other haunts of the rich. Rebus (in his thoughts) and Rankin (in interviews) refer to this contrast as the "underworld and overworld" of the city. Rankin has noted that he enjoys writing about Rebus precisely because, as a policeman, he has a right to entry in both worlds. Rankin stresses that the city of Edinburgh itself has this Jekyll/Hyde quality, contrasting the twisting, multilayered

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

clustered around

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...

with the beautiful, rationally laid-out

New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

. Rankin decided early on that the Rebus novels would be set "in real time," that is, in about the year they were written, reflecting current events. Eleanor Bell notes that "Throughout his detective series Rankin has therefore aspired to present authentic visions of Scotland, to reflect subtle changes of detail in Edinburgh life and provide persuasive representations of the nation" as political and economic changes occur. Thus, for example, the Rebus novels reflect the long process of road blockages and drivers' frustrations during the construction of the

Edinburgh Trams Edinburgh Trams is a tramway in Edinburgh, Scotland, operated by Edinburgh Trams Ltd. It is an line between Newhaven, Edinburgh, Newhaven and Edinburgh Airport, with 23 tram stops, stops. A modern tram network for Edinburgh was proposed by ...

. The novels have also tracked the even longer struggles for

Scottish Independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...

, including delving into the past in the Malcolm Fox novel '' The Impossible Dead''. As a result, the Rebus novels are discussed in contexts such as "Concepts of Corruption: Crime Fiction and the Scottish 'State'" and "Redevelopment Fiction: Architecture, Town-planning, and 'Unhomeliness.'"

Characters

See List of Inspector Rebus characters. The unifying point of view in the Rebus series is that of John Rebus, with the point of view sometimes shifting to colleagues, criminals or suspects. Among the colleagues, the most important is

Siobhan Clarke This is a list of characters from the ''Inspector Rebus'' series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Ian Rankin. They are all fictional characters that have appeared in more than one novel in the series. A number of the characters appea ...

, whose point of view is often as fully represented as Rebus's in the novels beginning with '' Set in Darkness'' (2000). The character allowed critics to approach the Rebus series from a feminist point of view. When Rankin wrote a novel in which Rebus himself retired, '' Exit Music'' (2007), there was speculation that the series would continue with Clarke as the main protagonist; the suggestion of Mark Lawson, that new Rebus novels would feature "Rebus playing Hannibal Lecter to her Agent Clarice Starling," is not completely outrageous, since in some of the later novels—e.g. '' In a House of Lies'' (2018) and ''

A Heart Full of Headstones ''A Heart Full of Headstones'' is the 24th installment in the Inspector Rebus series written by Ian Rankin. The title comes from the song "Single Father" by Jackie Leven, four lines of which are quoted on the last page of the novel. The novel i ...

'' (2022)--Rebus is not only trying to advise her on her cases but is under investigation himself. However, when Rebus retired in '' Exit Music,'' Rankin instead wrote two novels set in the same world of Edinburgh policing, but from the point of view of Malcolm Fox, an Inspector with Internal Affairs. Although these novels, '' The Complaints'' and '' The Impossible Dead'', are usually excluded from the Rebus series, Fox became a significant character in the Rebus novels when they resumed in 2012 with '' Standing in Another Man's Grave''. He represents a point of view in which Rebus's maverick attitudes are not merely outmoded or superseded, but potentially criminal; however, after he becomes acquainted with Rebus, he recognizes that the older man did have standards of his own. Rankin used the point of view of the criminals being pursued by Rebus effectively in early novels like ''

'' and '' Tooth and Nail'' but seems to have dropped this device. In some of the later novels, Rebus's nemesis, the gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty, is a point of view character; often the glimpse of his thoughts allows the reader to understand the strange relationship between the two not-quite-retired men. However, Cafferty's point of view usually confirms that he is even more evil than Rebus imagines. The young gangster Darryl Christie, who appears in four novels from 2012-2016, is another effectively portrayed "bad guy." In ''

'' Rankin gives us the point of view of a policeman who comes close to killing a suspect in the same manner as George Floyd was killed, while being filmed by bystanders.

Publishing history

The ''Inspector Rebus'' series is commercially successful in the United Kingdom, accounting for an estimated 10% of all crime book sales in the UK as of 2015. The books routinely sell half a million copies each, and have been translated into 36 languages. As of 2015 they are published in the UK by the

Orion Publishing Group Orion Publishing Group Ltd. is a UK-based book publisher. It was founded in 1991 and acquired Weidenfeld & Nicolson the following year. The group has published numerous bestselling books by notable authors including Ian Rankin, Michael Connell ...

. The seventeenth was thought to be the last as Rebus turned sixty, the age of retirement for CID officers, and in 2009 Rankin produced a fresh protagonist in the form of Inspector Malcolm Fox of the police's Complaints and Conduct Department. In this book ('' The Complaints'') and its 2011 sequel ('' The Impossible Dead'') Rebus and his colleague (Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke) did not appear. However at the Hay Festival in June 2012 Rankin announced a further book, entitled ''Standing in Another Man's Grave'', subsequently released in November 2012. This was followed by further novels in which Rebus (now a civilian), Clarke (now promoted Detective Inspector) and Fox all served as protagonists.

Novels

#''

'' (1987) #'' Hide and Seek'' (1991) #'' Tooth and Nail'' (original title ''Wolfman'') (1992) #'' Strip Jack'' (1992) #'' The Black Book'' (1993) #'' Mortal Causes'' (1994) #'' Let It Bleed'' (1996) #'' Black & 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'' (published in the US as ''Fleshmarket Alley'') (2004) #'' The Naming of the Dead'' (2006) #'' Exit Music'' (2007) #'' Standing in Another Man's Grave'' (2012) #'' Saints of the Shadow Bible'' (2013) #'' Even Dogs in the Wild'' (2015) #'' Rather Be the Devil'' (2016) #'' In a House of Lies'' (2018) #'' A Song for the Dark Times'' (2020) #''

'' (2022) #'' Midnight and Blue'' (2024)

Short stories

* = published in some version of '' The Beat Goes On'' (2014) ** = published in '' A Good Hanging and Other Stories'' (1992) as well as in ''The Beat Goes On''.

Collections

*''Rebus - The Early Years'' 'Knots and Crosses'', ''Hide and Seek'', ''Tooth and Nail''(1990) *''Rebus - The St. Leonards' Years'' 'Strip Jack'', ''The Black Book'', ''Mortal Causes''(2001) *''Rebus - The Lost Years'' 'Let it Bleed'', ''Black & Blue'', ''The Hanging Garden''(1998) *''Rebus - Capital Crimes'' 'Dead Souls'', ''Set in Darkness'', ''The Falls''(2004) *''Rebus - Three Great Novels'' 'Resurrection Men'', ''A Question of Blood'', ''Fleshmarket Close''(2008) *''The Complete Short Stories'' 'A Good Hanging and Other Stories'', ''Beggars Banquet'', ''Atonement''(2005)

Also

* - non-fiction book discussing the background to the Rebus novels. *

Audiobooks

All of the Rebus novels are available as audiobooks, some in several versions: narrated by different people or in abridged and unabridged form. Narrators include: * James MacPherson * Jamie Glover * Bill Paterson (''The Black Book'', ''Hide and Seek'') * Samuel Gillies (''Strip Jack'', ''Set in Darkness'', ''Tooth and Nail'', ''Let It Bleed'', ''The Falls'', ''Beggar's Banquet'') * Roger Allam * Joe Dunlop (''Dead Souls'', ''Resurrection Men'') * James Frain * David Rintoul (''Mortal Causes'') * Tom Cotcher (''A Question of Blood'', ''Fleshmarket Close'', ''The Naming of the Dead'') *Michael Page (''A Question of Blood'', ''Fleshmarket Alley'' (Close)) * Ewan Stewart (''Knots and Crosses'', ''Hide and Seek'', unabridged versions) Three of the novels have wo
Spoken Word Awards
''Strip Jack'' (Gold), ''A Question of Blood'' and ''Resurrection Men'' (Silver). An innovative new design, the illustrated audiobook was created for ''Rebus's Scotland'' (the CD box contains a 32-page booklet containing photographs from the book).

Other adaptations

Television

Thirteen of the novels were dramatised for

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

between 2000 and 2007 in four series of ''

Rebus A rebus ( ) is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

''. John Hannah played Inspector Rebus in the first series, before being replaced by

Ken Stott Kenneth Campbell Stott (born 19 October 1954) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor who won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1995 in the play ''Broken Glass (play), Broken Glass'' at Royal National Thea ...

for the next three. Series four of the programme also included an original episode, which unlike the other thirteen episodes aired, was not based on any of the Rankin novels. It was entitled "The First Stone". A rebooted series of six episodes aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

and

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

from 17 May 2024. Produced by Nordic streaming service Viaplay, and starring Richard Rankin, it was the company's first UK original. After post-production had ended, Viaplay decided to move away from the UK, and sold ''

'' to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio

Alexander Morton voiced John Rebus in a 1999

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

dramatization of ''Let it Bleed''. Ron Donachie starred as Rebus in Radio 4's dramatizations of ''The Falls'' (2003), ''Resurrection Men'' (2004), ''Black & Blue'' (2008), ''Strip Jack'' (2010), ''The Black Book'' (2012), ''Set in Darkness'' (2014), ''A Question of Blood'' (2016) and ''Fleshmarket Close'' (2017), having previously played Rebus's Chief Constable in the TV series. Readings of the short story "Facing the Music" from ''Beggars Banquet'', read by James MacPherson, and of the novella ''Death Is Not the End'', performed by

Douglas Henshall Douglas James "Dougie" Henshall (born 19 November 1965) is a Scottish television, film and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Professor Nick Cutter in the science fiction series ''Primeval (TV series), Primeval'' (2007–2011) and D ...

, have also been broadcast by BBC Radio.

Stage

A brand new story written for the stage by Ian Rankin and adapted by playwright Rona Munro entitled ''Rebus: Long Shadows'' had its premiere at the

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...

on 20 September 2018 before touring the UK. The production was directed by Roxana Silbert and starred

Charles Lawson Quintin Charles Devenish Lawson (born 17 September 1959) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is best known for playing Jim McDonald (Coronation Street), Jim McDonald on the long running ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. ...

as Rebus.

Notes

References

External links

Rampant Scotland ArticleThe Oxford Bar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebus, Inspector BBC Radio dramas Novels set in Edinburgh Crime novel series Scottish novels