{"id":6363,"date":"2017-01-26T08:29:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T13:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6363"},"modified":"2017-01-29T12:08:47","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T17:08:47","slug":"ian-rankins-30th-rebus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6363","title":{"rendered":"Ian Rankin’s 30th Year of Rebus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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photo: wikimedia<\/p><\/div>\n

In Daneet Steffens\u2019s<\/a> recent interview for LitHub<\/em> with Scotland\u2019s crime fiction star Ian Rankin, he says, \u201cAll crime fiction boils down to \u2018Why do we keep doing these terrible things?\u201d Go back to Shakespeare, to Euripides, and the combination of natural proclivity and circumstances has produced people who destroy not just their enemies, but also the people they love.<\/p>\n

Rankin says his early books were more typical whodunits, \u201cbut as I got more confident about the form and about what the crime novel could do, I thought, \u2018Well there\u2019s nothing it can\u2019t<\/em> do.\u2019\u201d Writers who want to talk about politics can do that, like author David Ignatius<\/a>. Those who want to talk about race relations can emulate Bill Beverly<\/a>. The environment, Paolo Bacigalupi<\/a>. And, those who want to explore domestic tensions can stake out territory alongside Gillian Flynn or Megan Abbott<\/a>. In that way, choosing to write about crime is not a limiting factor for authors, but one that gives their story about politics, race relations, the environment, domestic life\u2014whatever\u2014an extra urgency.<\/p>\n

You may have read Rankin\u2019s short stories, or be familiar with his best-known work, the award-winning Detective Rebus series (21 books!) set in Edinburgh, or seen one of the several television series made from them. The most recent series title, out earlier this month, is Rather Be the Devil<\/a><\/em>, in which the retired detective takes on a cold murder case, and finds it tied up with a complex money laundering scheme and an aging rock star.<\/p>\n

Rebus also has aged and represents some values and a black-and-white view of the world that Rankin says he doesn\u2019t share. It\u2019s Rebus\u2019s partners\u2014the books secondary characters\u2014whose job involves \u201ctrying to change his mind on things.\u201d After 30 years of writing the same character and his consistent opponent, Big Ger Cafferty, an old-fashioned gangster up against an old-fashioned detective, the world has changed around them, but the series has \u201cno signs of wearing out,\u201d says a CrimeFictionLover.com review.<\/p>\n

You can hear Rankin for yourself at a three-day Rebus festival<\/a> in Edinburgh, June 30 to July 2. Or in New York at The Center for Fiction, 17 E 47th St., which will host Rankin for a Crime Fiction Master Class<\/a> on Tuesday February 7th at 7 pm. He\u2019ll be interviewed about his career and the Rebus series by author Jonathan Santlofer. Free and open to the public.
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