Creating Rebus

Edinburgh’s Favourite Detective

Rankin on Edinburgh

'Living as I had done in a succession of dreary flats, motels and high-rise blocks, yet researching towards my PhD each day in the grand surroundings of the National Library and Central Library, Edinburgh really did seem a divided city. In Knots & Crosses, the appearance in the city of a serial killer has reporters dusting off stories about Deacon Brodie (gentleman by day, scoundrel by night), Burke and Hare (who murdered their victims then sold them on to surgeons in the guise of the recently grave-robbed), and hauntings (Edinburgh is said to be one of the most haunted cities in Europe). . . Rebus is a professional misanthrope, made cynical by the job he does. Every day of his life he moves through an extraordinary city, but dealing only with its victims and miscreants. To him, 'it wasn't a view at all. It was a crime scene waiting to happen.'

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