Knots and Crosses

Last updated

Knots and Crosses
IanRankinKnotsandCrosses.jpg
First UK edition
Author Ian Rankin
Country Scotland
LanguageEnglish
Series Inspector Rebus
Genre Detective fiction
Set in Edinburgh and Fife, 1985
Publisher The Bodley Head
Publication date
1987
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages168 pp
ISBN 0-3703-1057-8
OCLC 60611210
823.914
LC Class PR6068 .A57
Followed by Hide and Seek  

Knots and Crosses (also written Knots & Crosses) is a 1987 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the first of the Inspector Rebus novels. It was written while Rankin was a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. In the introduction to this novel, Rankin states that Rebus lives directly opposite the window in Marchmont that he looked out of while writing the book.

Contents

Plot outline

1985. Edinburgh has been shocked by the abduction and subsequent strangling of two young girls. Journalist Jim Stevens runs his own investigation, and has uncovered Michael Rebus's drug dealing. He suspects that his brother John, a Lothian and Borders Police officer, knows or even supports his brother's illegal activities.

John Rebus is meanwhile assigned to the investigative team. The investigation remains without success, and eventually two more girls disappear. Throughout the case, John is haunted by his past in the SAS. Then his former wife is attacked and his daughter abducted. Only when hypnotized by his brother is he able to share his past with him and his colleague and lover Gill Templer. Taking hints from seemingly cryptic anonymous letters, John connects the murders to his own military past. Relieved from his duty because of the personal involvement, he decides to find and face his enemy.

Characters and notes

Connections to other Rankin books

Writing Knots and Crosses

In the Exile on Princes Street foreword to Rebus: The Early Years, Rankin says he wrote this book shortly after giving his father a James Kelman book (the type of book he was studying at the time) and being shocked when his father said it wasn't "written in English" and had no story; Rankin says this made him rethink what type of writer he wanted to be. He wrote Knots with the idea of updating Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde into then-modern Edinburgh, with Rebus as the Jekyll figure (the book implies for a while that Rebus himself is unwittingly the killer) and he put Rebus in the same road, Arden Street, that he himself was living in. He states he was shocked to find out later that everyone thought he'd written a crime book, as he was unfamiliar with the genre. [2]

Related Research Articles

Detective Inspector John Rebus is the protagonist in the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Sir Ian Rankin, ten of which have so far been televised as Rebus. The novels are mostly set in and around Edinburgh. Rebus has been portrayed by John Hannah and Ken Stott for Television, with Ron Donachie playing the character for the BBC Radio dramatisations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Rankin</span> Scottish writer

Sir Ian James Rankin is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.

<i>Inspector Rebus</i> Series of detective novels by Ian Rankin

The Inspector Rebus books are a series of detective novels by the Scottish author Sir Ian Rankin. The novels, centred on Detective Inspector John Rebus, are mostly based in and around Edinburgh. They are considered an important contribution to 'Tartan Noir'.

<i>Hide and Seek</i> (Rankin novel)

Hide and Seek is a 1991 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the second of the Inspector Rebus novels. This novel is not to be confused with James Patterson's 1996 novel Hide and Seek.

<i>Strip Jack</i>

Strip Jack is a 1992 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the fourth of the Inspector Rebus novels.

<i>Let It Bleed</i> (novel) Book by Ian Rankin

Let it Bleed is a 1995 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the seventh of the Inspector Rebus novels. The US edition has a final chapter not present in the UK version; Rankin has explained that his North American publisher objected to the open, ambiguous conclusion of the original text.

<i>Black & Blue</i> (Rankin novel) Novel by Ian Rankin

Black & Blue is a 1997 crime novel by Ian Rankin. The eighth of the Inspector Rebus novels, it was the first to be adapted in the Rebus television series starring John Hannah, airing in 2000.

<i>The Hanging Garden</i> (Rankin novel)

The Hanging Garden is a 1998 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the ninth of the Inspector Rebus novels. It was the second episode in the Rebus television series starring John Hannah, airing in 2001.

<i>Dead Souls</i> (Rankin novel) 1999 novel by Ian Rankin

Dead Souls is a 1999 crime novel by Ian Rankin that features Inspector Rebus. The title refers both to Joy Division's song "Dead Souls" and to the 1842 Nikolai Gogol novel Dead Souls; quotes from the latter appear at the beginnings of the two divisions of the book. The novel won the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière upon its publication there in 2004.

<i>Set in Darkness</i>

Set in Darkness is a 2000 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the eleventh of the Inspector Rebus novels. It won the 2005 Grand Prix du Roman Policier (France) under the title Du fond des ténèbres.

<i>Resurrection Men</i>

Resurrection Men is a 2002 novel by Ian Rankin. It is the thirteenth of the Inspector Rebus novels. It won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2004.

<i>The Naming of the Dead</i>

The Naming of the Dead is a crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the sixteenth of the Inspector Rebus novels. It is set in Edinburgh in July 2005, in the week of the G8 summit in Gleneagles.

<i>Blood Hunt</i>

Blood Hunt is a 1995 crime novel by Ian Rankin, under the pseudonym "Jack Harvey". It is the third novel he wrote under this name.

<i>Watchman</i> (novel) 1988 crime novel by Ian Rankin

Watchman is a 1988 novel written by Ian Rankin, and is one of the author's earliest works. Originally published in 1988, it was reissued with a new introduction by Rankin in 2004.

<i>Exit Music</i> Crime novel by Ian Rankin

Exit Music is the seventeenth crime novel in the internationally bestselling Inspector Rebus series, written by Ian Rankin. It was published on 6 September 2007. The book is named after the Radiohead song "Exit Music ".

<i>The Complaints</i>

The Complaints is a novel by Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin. It was published in the United Kingdom on 3 September 2009.

<i>The Impossible Dead</i>

The Impossible Dead is a 2011 novel written by the Scottish author Ian Rankin. It is the second novel in the Malcolm Fox series.

<i>Standing in Another Mans Grave</i> 2012 novel by Ian Rankin

Standing in Another Man's Grave is the eighteenth instalment in the bestselling Inspector Rebus series of crime novels, published in 2012. The title of the book is a mondegreen, Rankin having misheard the Scottish singer songwriter Jackie Leven singing "Standing in Another Man's Rain", which mistake he gives to Rebus. Excerpts from Leven's songs appear with each division of the book.

<i>In a House of Lies</i>

In a House of Lies is the 22nd instalment in the Inspector Rebus series written by Ian Rankin. In a House of Lies entered the hardback chart at No. 1 on the first week of its release.

References

  1. Rankin, Ian. "Jack Harvey novels: Introduction". IanRankin.net. Archived from the original on 15 February 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  2. Rankin, Ian (2000). Rebus: The Early Years. London, UK: Orion Books. pp. vii–viii. ISBN   978-0-75283-799-4.