Last writes?

With the 17th Rebus novel among us, Ian Rankin tells Doug Johnstone that this might not actually be the end for his world-weary boozehound copper

o this is the end. then. Well. perhaps not quite.

latit .Ilusit'. the much trumpeted latest \sork

l‘rom Ian Rankin sees his world latnous cynical copper |)etecti\e Inspector Rehus handng in his \sarrant card lot the last titne and retiring permanently to the hack rootn ol' the ()sl‘ord liar. But \shile. hy the end of [fit] .Iltixit'. Rehus is no longer officially in the employ ol’ lidinhurgh ('II). it‘s not giying too much aysay to say that the door to the possihility ol~ l'ut‘ther Rchus hooks remains ajar.

‘I honestly don‘t kno\\ if this is the last Rehus hook or not.‘ says Rankin o\ er coffee in the li\ ing rootn ol‘ his house in Iidinhurgh‘s lealy .\Ierchiston.

‘It feels as il‘ there‘s ttnl'inished husiness there hetyseen its. so mayhe it‘s not all m er. I cottld Iea\e it til the end HI- lit/it .I/Itsit‘. that might he tt decent end. httt I really don‘t knotx.‘ In keeping \\ ith Rankin‘s last lieyy Rehus outings. litit .Ilttxit' l‘ocuses on the hurgeoning political and economic potsers hased in Scotland's capital post-desolution. this titne the death of a Russian poet implicating e\treme|_\ rich l‘oreign husinessmen. high—ranking hank officials and pouer- hungry politicians in a latrt‘eaching conspiracy.

'IItis hook \yas kind ol~ ahottt \sherc Scotland tnight go in the future.~ Rankin says. If it goes independent. does a stnall country heading for independence attract the wrong kind of l'olk'.’ 'l‘he ones \s ho are only after making a quick huck‘.’ What happens then'."

lians hoping for a httnch ol‘ loose ends to he tied tip at the end of the 7th Rehtts noyel in 20 years are in for a disappointment. not least in the Jekyll and Hyde relationship between Rehus and his nemesis Big (ier

26 THE LIST t‘» Rtt Set) so);

'IT FEELS AS IF THERE'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS BETWEEN US'

i I

('al‘l'erty. which is Iel‘t dangling on the \ery last page. :\s the series has progressed tloysn the years. hoth the city Rankin is descrihing and his oysn \yriting style haye groyyn in complexity and conl'idencc. to the point where the author harer recognises the city and characters ol‘ the early hooks.

"I'hey‘ye changed loads.~ he admits. "l‘he lirst hook. Knots um/ ('rmst's. in sotne \says is a cotnpletc disaster area. To my mind. it‘s too ohyiottsly \yritten hy a post—graduate Iinglish student. I mean. Rehtis tllltiles \VLIII Whitman. and he l'CittI\ I)t)sttie\sk} too. He’s too tnttch like tne in that lirst hook'

One thing for sure is that Rankin is leaning Rehus alone l‘or at least the ne\t \yee \shile. .-\s we” as all his promotional commitments l'or lit/"t .Ilusit'. \yhich stretch to the end of the year. he‘s struggling ytith a graphic noyel. llt'l/li/uit'r t'I‘m three pages in. it‘s harder than I thought‘ l. heeling up a New i'ui'A 'li'mm liction serial into noyelistic form. and has signed tip to a two-hook deal for unspecified non—Rehus adyentures. So if this really is the end for I)I Rehus. what does Rankin think the series leayes as a legacy ‘.’ ‘Really. all I‘ye tried to do is \y rite ahotit contemporary lidinhurgh. \shich no one seemed to he doing \s hen I started. Historians can hopeltlIIy come hack in the future and get a sense ol~ \y hat the city \s as like in the 80s. UIIs and let century. 'l‘hat‘s pretty much all I can hope l‘or.‘

Exit Music is published by Orion on Thu 6 Sep. Ian Rankin is at Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow, Sun 9 Sep.

flit." , >l<

THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS

David Peace One of Britain's finest young writers most recently gave us Tokyo Year Zero, the vivid, horrific and difficult tale of a crumbling Japanese detective fighting his demons while trying to track down a very nasty killer. Word Power Bookshop, Edinburgh, Thu 13 Sep. =£< James Kelman With the relaunch of his epic The Busconductor Hines. Scotland's only Booker winner chats about life and literature. Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Thu 13 Sep. =2: Ian Rankin The clock is starting to tick on Rebus as Last Exit signals the end for the troubled cop. Or does it? See preview, left. Orion; Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow, Sun 9 Sep. >2: Joe Matt Following in the confessional footsteps of Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar. Joe Matt pens The Poor Bastard, a tale of a guy with some rather immature obsessions. I think you know the kind of thing we're talking about here. See review, page 28. Jonathan Cape. >l< Renee French Here comes a surreal gem about a troubled childhood from this Californian—based cartoonist in the shape of The Ticking. Edison Steelhead is the central character. a lad whose mother died while giving birth to him and is taken away to a deserted island by his misguided dad. See review, page 28. Top Shelf. >i< Adrian Tomine Like may of the best creative minds, Tomine uses space and silence to great effect. In Shortcomings, a tense human relationship between two people in the film world is given weight by the pauses and gaps which seem to highlight the sense of

i transition in the story. See review. page 28. Faber.