Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh and has since been employed as grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist and punk musician. He published his first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, in 1987. The Rebus books are now translated into twenty-two languages and are bestsellers on every continent. Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the prestigious Chandler-Fulbright Award, as well as two CWA short story "Daggers" and the 1997 CWA Macallan Gold Dagger for fiction for Black & Blue, which was also shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America "Edgar" award for best novel. Ian has received an OBE for his services to literature. He lives in Edinburgh and is married with two sons.