Where to Start with Ian Rankin: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Ian Rankin — whether to begin with Knots and Crosses or Black and Blue. A complete reading guide to the Scottish crime novelist.
Ian Rankin (born 1960) is the Scottish crime novelist whose Inspector Rebus series — beginning with Knots and Crosses in 1987 — has redefined Scottish crime fiction and established Edinburgh as one of the most vivid settings in contemporary detective fiction. Rankin grew up in Fife and studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh; his Rebus novels use crime fiction as a vehicle for examining Scottish society, politics, and national identity with unusual literary ambition. He is the recipient of multiple CWA Gold Daggers and an OBE.
Where to Start: Knots and Crosses (1987)
The first Rebus — and the right starting point for readers who prefer to begin a series at its beginning. John Rebus is a detective constable in Edinburgh, still bearing the psychological scars of a special forces training programme that ended badly. When girls begin to disappear and a killer sends him cryptic notes — knots tied in string and crosses drawn on paper — Rebus’s investigation draws increasingly close to his own past.
Knots and Crosses is a shorter and less fully realised novel than Rankin’s mature Rebus books — he was in his mid-twenties when he wrote it, and was writing more in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Edinburgh than of modern crime fiction. But the elements that would define the series are present: Rebus’s complicated relationship with the city, his personal damage, the sense of Edinburgh as a city of surfaces concealing darker histories.
Many experienced Rankin readers recommend new readers start with Black and Blue (1997) instead — it is where the series reached its mature form and is a more immediate demonstration of what the Rebus novels can do at their best. Both approaches are valid: starting from the beginning gives you Rebus’s development; starting with Black and Blue gives you Rankin at full power from the first page.
Black and Blue (1997)
The eighth Rebus novel and the one that made his international reputation — structurally ambitious, socially acute, built around the Aberdeen oil industry and a haunting real-crime parallel. The best single Rebus novel and an excellent alternative entry point.
Reading Ian Rankin
Begin with Knots and Crosses for the full Rebus arc from the beginning, or Black and Blue for an immediate encounter with Rankin at his best. The series rewards reading in order; each novel builds on the Edinburgh and Scotland Rankin has created across decades.
For the full Ian Rankin bibliography, reviews, and biography, visit the Ian Rankin author page on Editors Reads.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Ian Rankin?
Knots and Crosses (1987) is the starting point in series order — the first Inspector Rebus novel, introducing the Edinburgh detective who has defined Scottish crime fiction for three decades. However, Black and Blue (1997) is often recommended as the better entry point for new readers: it is where Rankin hit his full stride, won the Gold Dagger Award, and began the sustained run of major novels that made Rebus internationally famous. Both approaches work.
What is the Inspector Rebus series about?
The Inspector Rebus series follows Detective Inspector (later Detective Sergeant) John Rebus — a complicated, alcoholic, self-destructive Edinburgh detective whose cases take him through the full social landscape of Scotland: from the city's Old Town to its housing estates, from the Scottish Parliament to the Highlands. Rebus's cases typically involve corruption, historical crimes, and the underside of Scottish society; Rankin uses the series to examine Scottish identity, politics, and class with unusual social depth for the crime genre.
What is Black and Blue about?
Black and Blue (1997) is the eighth Rebus novel and the one that elevated Rankin to international prominence, winning the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger. Rebus investigates a murder in Aberdeen's oil industry while simultaneously pursuing a serial killer who seems to be re-enacting the crimes of Bible John, a real murderer from 1960s Glasgow. The novel is structurally ambitious, sociologically rich, and marks the point at which Rebus became fully realised as a literary character rather than just a detective protagonist.
How many Rebus novels are there?
As of 2024, there are twenty-four Inspector Rebus novels, from Knots and Crosses (1987) through books published in the 2020s. Rankin also writes a separate series featuring Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox, who initially appears as an antagonist in the Rebus series. The novels can be read in any order, but reading in sequence allows readers to follow Rebus's personal history and Edinburgh's changing social landscape across decades.
