Ian Rankin holds court

I’m only linking this article for the picture, but this piece by Jane Slade for the Daily Snack touches on several other rather important things — like his housing preferences:

A year ago a property developer honoured its famous son by christening

a new housing development Ian Rankin Court. “The new houses were

selling for six figures. I couldn’t believe it,” Ian says.
The

trouble is, Rankin doesn’t care much for new houses. “I am an old,

traditional house kind of guy. I like people who put houses back to how

they used to be.”

He has spent most of his life moving from

chilly, unheated rented flats and houses. It is just three years since

he “got posh” and moved to Merchiston, a smart part of Edinburgh. He

and his wife bought a £1million Victorian property two doors away from

fellow writer Alexander McCall Smith and round the corner from JK

Rowling.

“It was 12 years after writing my first book that I

could afford to buy anything in Edinburgh. Now I don’t even know how

many bedrooms we have – but it’s a lot,” he says. “We have a posh

living room with nice paintings and a sound system. It’s a big house

but we have filled it.”

Rankin also says that he’s told his publisher he’s “taking next year off” although it’s my understanding he has just started writing the next Rebus book — and with the character turning 60 in less than 2 years, the clock’s definitely a-tickin’…