Author. Born in Cardenden, Rankin was educated at Beath High School (Cowdenbeath) and the University of Edinburgh. He worked on a PhD in Edinburgh examining modern Scottish literature, particularly the work of Muriel Spark (1918 - 2006), but never completed it. After winning a Scotsman newspaper short story competition he went on to write a series of best-selling crime novels featuring Inspector Rebus. These included Knots and Crosses (1987), Hide and Seek (1991), Strip Jack (1992), Mortal Causes (1994), The Hanging Garden (1997), Resurrection Men (2002) and Fleshmarket Close (2004). Rankin has also written poems, radio plays and historical fiction, as well as three further novels under the soubriquet Jack Harvey; namely Witch Hunt (1993), Bleeding Hearts (1994) and Blood Hunt (1995).
He was awarded the Crime Writer's Association Gold Dagger Award for the best novel of the year (1997) for his work Black & Blue and by 1999 had ten of his books in the top-20 Scottish best-sellers list. Rankin was made Alumnus of the Year by the University of Edinburgh in the same year and was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List (2002). He was knighted for services to literature and charity in 2022.
