Liars and Saints

One of my favorite authors is Ian Rankin, who launched his own artistic career while studiously not-writing a dissertation on Muriel Spark. Rankin writes about flawed detectives in impossible situations, in Edinburgh, and he cranks out approximately one extravagantly-praised novel per year. Around 2008, Rankin seemed to grow tired of his signature creation, Inspector Rebus, so he went in a new direction. He invented a character, Malcolm Fox, who had little in common with Rebus. Rebus is, famously, a drinker--and he is a guy who struggles with authority; by contrast, Fox has renounced alcohol, and he *is* authority, he watches the cops. Fox made his debut in "The Complaints," in 2009, a novel that won praise from the grand master of European crime fiction, PD James. "The Complaints" refers to Fox's office--he handles and investigates complaints filed about other cops--but it also refers to something broader, more existential: The novel explores things we ...

Inspector Rebus nerds, tune in: -I haven't read the Rebus books in order. I've jumped around. It seems to me Rankin may have grown tired of Rebus, invented Malcolm Fox, found that Fox was not adequate in some way, then brought Rebus back out of the assisted-living world to tangle with Fox. I'm not sure. There are gaps in my reading. -One thing I notice, comparing the new Rebus books to the older Rebus books: The daughter seems not to come up so much anymore. And the digressions about Rebus's musical tastes seem to have disappeared. (Thank God.) -You're only as interesting as your characters, and Rankin invents colorful people--brings them to life with very few words. There's Cafferty, the crime boss who loves life and who takes good care of himself (and who has a sense of humor). There's Rebus, who is drinking himself to death, and whose struggle with nicotine-substitute chewing gum concerns Rankin as much as the identity of any secret killers. There...

Ian Rankin wanted to be Muriel Spark. Or someone like Muriel Spark. An august literary novelist. He studied Spark in grad school. But, in his own writing career, he found himself pulled, again and again, toward the crime novel. He stuck with his interest. Maybe eight or nine so-so books came into the world. Then Rankin found his stride--with "Black and Blue." Like Simenon, like Balzac, he has been tireless, producing and producing and producing through a now-legendary career. My impression is that Rankin's "sweet spot" was right after "Black and Blue"--with "Dead Souls," "Set in Darkness," and "The Falls." But there's really no strong reason to think this. I need to investigate the newer novels, and maybe I'll get to that this year. In any case, here's what you need to know about Rankin. He actually hasn't given up on the idea of "literary credibility." He feels that the crime novel is just as...