This portrait of Scottish writer Ian Rankin was taken in Edinburgh’s Oxford bar, made famous as the favoured wateringhole of Rankin’s character, Detective Inspector Rebus. Ponderous, unshaven and holding a pint, Rankin appears as an author deep in thought. The neutral background draws attention to Rankin’s features as he looks out of the frame. Born in Cardenden, Fife, in 1960, Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and lists in his biography work as a grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, hi-fi journalist and punk musician. His first novel, Knots and Crosses, featuring Rebus, was published in 1987. The Rebus books have now been translated into thirty-six languages and made into a TV series.