Author Ian Rankin warns fans he is '˜slowing down' as writer

Author Ian Rankin has told fans not to expect him to write a new novel every year. Picture: TSPL

The 58-year-old author, who has just released his 22nd Inspector Rebus novel, has admitted there may be a two-year break before another instalment of the series.

Rankin said it had taken just a few months to write the latest book, In a House of Lies, but admitted the inspiration for the book had not come until the start of this year.

Speaking at its official launch at the Queen’s Hall, Rankin said he was “very happy” with the first Inspector Rebus stage play, which attracted sell-out crowds in Edinburgh last week.

But he said he did not want a long-awaited television “reboot” of Rebus, first details of which were announced more than a year ago, to be rushed.

Rankin told the sell-out crowd that the return of Rebus to the nation’s screens was likely to involve the adaptation of two previous novels into a full-length TV series.

But he said it was not ready to go into production as the script was still being worked on by screenwriter Gregory Burke and there had been no discussions yet on who would take on the lead role.

Rankin, who admitted he had previously been in favour of Brian Cox playing Rebus on screen, said he was not a huge fan of TV crime drama and branded the finale of The Bodyguard “a huge let-down”.

Rankin, who performed several numbers with his new rock band Best Picture at the Queen’s Hall, said: “I’m not writing anything at the moment. I’m busy on the road touring. When I’m on the road I can’t write anything.

“I need to be at home  sitting with my music and my Snickers bars to do anything. I can edit on the road but I can’t really write.

“Next year I will sit and scratch my head and see if there is anything else waiting to come out, but potentially two years, because I am slowing down.”

Asked about progress on the new TV series, Rankin said: “It’s been a long time but it’s still going. Gregory Burke is still working on the screenplay. I am leaving them to it. A TV company wants it when it is finished. We’ve not talked about casting for the reboot, so who knows where it will go next? I was very happy with the stage play.

“I don’t watch much of TV myself, but I did watch The Bodyguard. I had no idea where it was going to go. I thought she (Keeley Hawes’ character Home Secretary Julia Montague) was going to come back from the dead.

“In many of these things the final episode is often a let-down. I though the final episode of The Bodyguard was a huge let-down. I just didn’t believe it for a second. It was strung out to an extraordinary length. I know cops who watched it going: ‘Come on – it just wouldn’t be like that.’”

Rankin was asked whether he had thought about going back in time to write about Rebus, who was 40 in the first book, as a younger detective.

He said: “I’ve not thought about it. Other people have spoken about it. Maybe once I shuffle off this mortal coil there will be room for it then. Maybe there could be a young Rebus but possibly not in my lifetime.”