Ian Rankin is the creator of Detective Inspector John Rebus, the middle-aged Edinburgh cop whose unorthodox approach to work and life often gets him into trouble in both his job and his relationships.

Rankin's latest book, Resurrection Men, continues his look at the darker side of Edinburgh.

BBC Norfolk's Jim Cassidy interviewed the author when he came to meet his fans at Ottakar's Bookshop in Norwich.

Jim Cassidy: How do you feel about book signings - the more public side of a writer's life?

Ian Rankin:Well it’s about the only chance I get for feedback from fans so it’s very useful. It’s useful if people tell me that I’ve got things wrong, so I can get them right next time. It’s also useful when people tell me what I’m doing right.

And I’m always testing; whether this character or that character works; do people want to see more of Cafferty, the evil gang lord, do they like him, don’t they like him?

What do they think about me giving Siobhan a much bigger role in the books - Rebus’s sidekick as was, who’s now his equal?

So I do enjoy it. I enjoy the travel but you never get to see anywhere; you do places and never see anything. I mean, I don’t suppose I’m going to see very much of Norwich, apart from bookshops and a hotel.

Jim Cassidy: Can you remember the first book signings you did? Were they a bit daunting?

Ian Rankin: (laughs) I remember some of the very early ones where nobody turned up! There was an extraordinary one where I flew from Seattle to San Diego, which is about 3,000 miles, to do a book signing and not one person turned up, so I hung around for an hour, went back to the airport, got back on a plane to Seattle.

Yeah, it was daunting. I mean, writers don’t become writers because they’re great public performers. And when you first stand up in front of an audience and you’re going to read your stuff out, it’s like when you show your work to somebody for the very first time, I think the biggest, most daunting step in a writer’s life is when they pluck up the courage to show the poem, the short story, whatever it is, to a complete stranger.

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Internet links:
www.ianrankin.net
www.oxfordbar.com

Internet links:
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