9 Must-Read Books by Ian Rankin

Troubled British army veteran, Inspector John Rebus makes his debut in this hard-hitting mystery from 1987 that draws inspiration from another classic Edinburgh novel, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. 

Rebus is assigned to investigate the deaths of two young girls found strangled in the Scottish capital. His task is muddied by the presence of his brother Michael—stage hypnotist turned drug dealer—and hostile investigative journalist, Jim Stevens. 

Tormented by dark and buried memories from his military service, Rebus starts to fear that he himself could be the killer—and there’s only one way to find out for sure. 

Fans of shorter crime fiction will take great pleasure from this terrific 1992 collection of short stories featuring Inspector Rebus. The well-wrought tales cover a year in the life of the Edinburgh-based cop, with each one taking place in a different month. 

The stories reflect what is going on in the Scottish capital—the switching on of the Christmas lights in Princess Street to the Fringe Festival—while offering more intriguing glimpses into Rebus’ past. 

The third in the Rebus series was written while Rankin was living in London (and hating it). His tough Scots cop joins the author in the English capital and has just as miserable a time as his creator—albeit one that is a good deal bloodier. 

The Edinburgh detective is assigned to a Metropolitan Police task force investigating a series of gruesome murders in the East End by a serial killer known as The Wolfman. 

Facing the hostility of his Cockney bosses and enmeshed in a family drama involving his teenage daughter, Rebus goes it alone with potentially deadly consequences.

A police raid on an upscale Edinburgh bordello reveals the presence of an up-and-coming local politico, Gregor Jack. When Jack’s outspoken wife disappears, and a couple of bodies turn up, all fingers point to the politician’s inner circle of friends and fixers. 

Inspector Rebus is not convinced, however. To hi,m it looks like somebody higher up the food chain is working to destroy Jack’s reputation. Despite the interference of his bosses, Rebus sets out to find out who and why.

The eighth Rebus novel - and the second to share a name with a Rolling Stones’ album—was Rankin’s break into the big time. It won the CWA Golden Dagger in 1997, earned the author critical acclaim, and was made into a successful ITV series. 

Based on the real life—and still unsolved—Bible John case, Black and Blue sees Rebus investigating both a series of slayings of young women and a gangland hit. The two cases turn out to be more closely connected than anyone might have suspected. 

Rebus’ unorthodox methods and the lurking presence of corrupt police and organised crime figures threaten to destroy his career as he edges closer to his conclusion.

Rebus' ninth outing is a satisfyingly knotty mystery that sees four intertwined cases falling onto the brooding detective’s desk. 

One involves a possible Nazi war criminal living in the city, another the surveillance of a wannabe gangster, the third the murder of the owner of an ice cream van (there were a series of real life ‘wars’ over ice cream van routes in Scotland that resulted in several deaths) and the fourth the threatening of a Bosnian prostitute by a cluster of international organised crime figures from Chechnya and Japan. 

Named after a song by The Cure, it’s a brilliantly plotted and characterised novel that shows Rankin at the top of his game. 

Rebus’ hasty decision to out a known paedophile he sees apparently photographing children at Edinburgh zoo leads to the man’s murder. The detective’s investigation of that crime uncovers a secret network that involves senior figures in Scottish society. 

Meanwhile, a gangland hitman has returned to Scotland from the US, bent on avenging himself on those who have crossed him, and the son of one of Rebus’ friends has gone missing. Addressing questions of nature versus nurture, Dead Souls is both cerebral and visceral.

The return of the Scottish Parliament after 300 years and Edinburgh’s boom in both property and organised crime form the background for this cracking crime novel set in December 1998. 

Inspector Rebus is tasked with organising security for the new wave of Scots MPs, a task that’s derailed by the discovery of a mummified corpse in the fireplace of one of the new parliamentary buildings, the murder of a parliamentary candidate, and the arrival in the city of a menacing figure from Rebus past, gangland boss, ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty. 

One of Scotland’s most notorious crimes, the Burke and Hare murders of the 1830s, haunts this superb 2001 novel that sees Rebus and his colleagues investigating the disappearance of the daughter of a wealthy and influential Scots family. 

The link between crimes past and present comes in the shape of model coffins containing dolls. Are they the work of a modern-day serial killer or simply part of a ghoulish internet role-playing game the missing girl was a part of? 

The Falls sat at the top of the UK best-seller charts for weeks, and it’s easy to see why.