About the Author

Born in Scotland in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh and has since been employed as a grape picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist, and punk musician.
Since publishing his first Rebus novel, " Knots and Crosses," in 1987, the series has become phenomenally successful, with each new installment a runaway bestseller in the United Kingdom. Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. Black and Blue won the Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger Award for best novel of the year in 1997.
He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons.

Reviews

"A...beautifully written series." -"The New York Times Book Review"
"Rankin is the master of the moody, modern police procedural, working on the same high plateau as Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill, and P.D. James." -"The Wall Street Journal"
"[A] Brilliant Series."-"Entertainment Weekly"
"Finish one of Rankin's book, and you'll feel you've been taken inside the river body of Edinburgh from top to the darkest bottom, a journey that calls Charles Dickens and Wilke Collins to mind as often as it does Inspector Morse." -"Los Angeles Times"

In his latest police procedural, Edgar-nominated Rankin (Set in Darkness) explores Edinburgh's gruesome past and dark present. Investigating the disappearance of Philippa Balfour, a young woman from a wealthy banking family, Inspector John Rebus has only two clues to work with: an e-mail message on Philippa's computer, indicating that she was playing an online game with the mysterious Quizmaster, and a tiny wooden coffin found near the Balfour family home. While Detective Constable Siobhan Clarke attempts to track down the Quizmaster by playing the game in Philippa's place, Rebus focuses on the coffin. Is there a connection with 18th-century body snatchers, or is the link more contemporary? The possibility of a serial killer also arises. Combining complicated multiple plot lines with finely drawn characters and fascinating Scottish lore and settings, Rankin once again proves himself a master of the gritty British crime novel. For all mystery collections. Wilda Williams, "Library Journal" Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.