Knots and Crosses
- Published
- 1 January 1987
- Pages
- 253
- ISBN-13
- 9780752883533
- Type
- novel
About this book
Knots and Crosses (1987) introduces Ian Rankin's John Rebus, the hard-drinking, insomniac Detective Inspector whose stubborn instinct for Edinburgh's underside launches a series that would run for decades. At 253 pages, it's the compact start of a career Rankin wrote to be read in publication order, with the next entry, Hide and Seek, following in 1991.
Key facts about Knots and Crosses
Ian Rankin wrote Knots and Crosses, a novel on our list. It has been out since 1987. The book has 253 pages.
We list 2 editions of this novel. Since each edition has its own ISBN, search for 9780752883533 to find the main one.
Knots and Crosses is book 1 of 27 in the Inspector Rebus series. The series has 27 published books. As a result, this is the book to start the series with. Midnight and Blue is the latest book in the series with a full release date, out on 10 October 2024.
Additionally, Ian Rankin writes Jack Laidlaw and Malcolm Fox as separate series. Those series sit on our crime fiction and police procedural shelves. Meanwhile, The Heights is the latest published Ian Rankin book on file, from 8 October 2026.
About Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin is a Scottish crime writer whose Inspector John Rebus series has become one of the defining bodies of work in modern British crime fiction, and whose Edinburgh setting -- rendered in unglamorous, atmospheric detail -- is as much a character in the books as Rebus himself. See every Ian Rankin book in order.
Its place in Inspector Rebus
Knots and Crosses is book 1 in the Inspector Rebus series. It is followed by Hide and Seek. See the full Inspector Rebus reading order.
John Rebus is a Detective Inspector with Edinburgh CID: a hard-drinking, rule-bending insomniac who solves cases as much through stubbornness and an instinct for the city's underside as through procedure. Ian Rankin builds each novel around a real strand of Edinburgh life — the tourist Old Town sitting on top of a much darker New Town of gangsters, corrupt councillors and old sectarian grudges — and lets Rebus's insubordination with his superiors (and his complicated, decades-long feud-turned-uneasy-alliance with…
Editions
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780752886220
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780752883533