Born in Cardenden, in Fife, Ian Rankin was educated at Beath High School before studying literature at the University of Edinburgh.
He had a variety of jobs before becoming a full-time writer, with his first book featuring Inspector John Rebus, Knots and Crosses, published in 1987 (his first novel, The Flood, was published the year before).
He’s now one of Britain’s bestselling writers, with 25 novels, two short-story collections, one original graphic novel, one novella, and a non-fiction book under his belt to date - earning him a host of awards and a Knighthood.
His latest Rebus book, Midnight & Blue, will be released later this year, and the character will be appearing in a six part BBC series, simply entitled Rebus, later this month.
Here are 13 of the author’s most memorable quotes.
9. Ian Rankin on...writing
"I'm often asked how I write books, but I don't think my approach is suitable for everyone. If I walked into a creative writing class, all I could say to them was 'I tend to make it up as I go along.' I'm not sure that's brilliant advice." | Getty Images
10. Ian Rankin on...his first stories
"I've always written. At the age of six or seven, I would get sheets of A4 paper and fold them in half, cut the edges to make a little eight-page booklet, break it up into squares and put in little stick men with little speech bubbles, and I'd have a spy story, a space story and a football story." | Getty Images
11. Ian Rankin on...how fast he works
"I used to think that: whenever I heard that someone had taken 10 years to write a novel, I'd think it must be a big, serious book. Now I think, 'No - it took you one year to write, and nine years to sit around eating Kit Kats'." | AFP via Getty Images
12. Ian Rankin on...early struggles
"My first novel was turned down by half a dozen publishers. And even after having published five or six books, I wasn't making enough money to live on, and was beginning to think I'd have to give up the dream of being a full-time writer." | Getty Images