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

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

by the Scottish author Sir Ian Rankin. The novels, centred on Detective Inspector John Rebus, are mostly based in and around

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. 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 introduc ...

''; his intention was to write a standalone variation on ''

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...

'' by Robert Louis Stevenson, set in contemporary Edinburgh. He was at first upset that bookstores shelved it in the

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

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 Bible John is an unidentified serial killer who is believed to have murdered three young women between 1968 and 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland. Bible John's victims were all young brunette women between the ages of 25 and 32, all of whom had met t ...

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 and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many o ...

Place and Time

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

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, and most of them in

. Interviewers such as

Gavin Esler Gavin William James Esler (born 27 February 1953) is a Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, ''Newsnight'', from January 2003 until January 2014, and pre ...

or reviewers may remark that the city of Edinburgh 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 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 after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

clustered around

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

with the beautiful, rationally laid-out

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. 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 a line between St Andrew Square in the New Town and Edinburgh Airport, with 15 stops. Construction began in June 2008, and after encountering delay ...

. The novels have also tracked the even longer struggles for Scottish Independence, including delving into the past in the Malcolm Fox novel ''

The Impossible Dead ''The Impossible Dead'' is a 2011 novel written by the Scottish author Ian Rankin. It is the second novel in the Malcolm Fox series. Plot Inspector Malcolm Fox and his team from the Lothian and Borders Police department of “Complaints” (Pr ...

''. 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 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 appe ...

. The unifying point of view in the Rebus series is, of course, 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, 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 In a House of Lies is the 22nd instalment in the Inspector Rebus series written by Ian Rankin. ''In a House of Lies'' entered the hardback chart at No. 1 on the first week of its release. Plot Some boys discover a car with a long-dead body in ...

'' (2018) and '' A Heart Full of Headstones'' (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 ''

'', 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 ''Standing in Another Man's Grave'' is the eighteenth instalment in the bestselling Inspector Rebus series of crime novels, published in 2012 in literature, 2012. The title of the book is a mondegreen, Rankin having misheard the Scottish singer ...

''. 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 '' A Heart Full of Headstones'' Rankin gives us the point of view of a policeman who comes close to killing a suspect in the same manner as

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

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 Connelly, ...

. The seventeenth was thought to be the last as Rebus turned sixty, the age of retirement for

CID CID may refer to: Film * ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film * ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film Television * ''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 (''

'') 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 Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chose ...

'' (1991) #'' Tooth and Nail'' (original title ''Wolfman'') (1992) #'' Strip Jack'' (1992) #'' The Black Book'' (1993) #'' Mortal Causes'' (1994) #''

Let It Bleed ''Let It Bleed'' is the eighth British and tenth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released 28 November 1969 on London Records in the United States and shortly thereafter by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. ...

'' (1996) #'' Black & Blue'' (1997) #'' The Hanging Garden'' (1998) #''

Dead Souls ''Dead Souls'' (russian: «Мёртвые души», ''Mjórtvyje dúshi'') is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and advent ...

'' (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) #''

'' (2012) #'' Saints of the Shadow Bible'' (2013) #''

Even Dogs in the Wild ''Even Dogs in the Wild'' is the twentieth instalment in the bestselling Inspector Rebus series of crime novels, published in 2015. The novel takes its name from the song of the same name by the Scottish band The Associates from their album '' T ...

'' (2015) #''

Rather Be the Devil ''Rather Be the Devil'' is the 21st instalment in the Inspector Rebus series of crime novels, published in November 2016. ''Rather Be the Devil'' topped the bestseller charts for hardback fiction. The title was inspired by a John Martyn song f ...

'' (2016) #''

'' (2018) #'' A Song for the Dark Times'' (2020) #'' A Heart Full of Headstones'' (2022)

Short stories

one * = published in some version of '' The Beat Goes On'' (2014) two ** = 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 James Macpherson ( Gaelic: ''Seumas MacMhuirich'' or ''Seumas Mac a' Phearsain''; 27 October 1736 – 17 February 1796) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of epic poem ...

* Jamie Glover * Bill Paterson (''The Black Book'', ''Hide and Seek'') *

Samuel Gillies Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...

(''Strip Jack'', ''Set in Darkness'', ''Tooth and Nail'', ''Let It Bleed'', ''The Falls'', ''Beggar's Banquet'') *

Roger Allam Roger William Allam (born 26 October 1953) is a British actor, who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio. He played Inspector Javert in the original London production of the stage musical ''Les Misérables'', First Officer ...

* Joe Dunlop (''Dead Souls'', ''Resurrection Men'') * James Frain *

David Rintoul David Rintoul (born David Wilson; 29 November 1948) is a Scottish stage and television actor. Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ...

(''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 Andrew Ewan Stewart (born 26 August 1957) is a Scottish film, television and stage actor. Early life Stewart was born in Glasgow, and is the son of the late Scottish entertainer Andy Stewart. His mother Sheila lives in Arbroath, Scotland. St ...

(''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, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

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'' at Royal National Theatre. He portrayed t ...

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 Rankin may refer to: Places Australia *Division of Rankin, an electoral district in the Australian Federal House of Representatives, in Queensland Canada *Rankin Inlet, Nunavut *Rankin Inlet Airport, Nunavut * Rankin River, Ontario * Rankin Locat ...

novels. It was entitled "The First Stone". Nordic streaming service Viaplay will produce a new Rebus adaptation, marking it as the company's first UK original.

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 that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

dramatization of ''Let it Bleed''.

Ron Donachie Ronald Eaglesham Porter (born 26 April 1956), known professionally as Ron Donachie, is a Scottish actor. He is known for starring as DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the Ian Rankin " Rebus" detective novels and for his suppo ...

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

, and of the novella ''Death Is Not the End'', performed by Douglas Henshall, have also been broadcast by BBC Radio.

Stage

A brand new story written for the stage by

Ian Rankin Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels. Early life Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a scho ...

and adapted by playwright

Rona Munro Rona Munro (born 7 September 1959) is a Scottish writer. She has written plays for theatre, radio, and television. Her film work includes Ken Loach's ''Ladybird, Ladybird'' (1994), '' Oranges and Sunshine'' (2010) for Jim Loach and '' Aimée & ...

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 "Charlie" Lawson (born 17 September 1959) is an actor, from Northern Ireland, who is best known for playing Jim McDonald on the long-running ITV soap opera, ''Coronation Street''. Early life and education Lawson was b ...

as Rebus.

Notes

References

External links

Rampant Scotland ArticleThe Oxford Bar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebus, Inspector Edinburgh literature Crime novel series Scottish literature