Edinburgh Ghosts Tours - Janice & Mairiuna

The Rebus Tours ! Can’t wait to play the game  Janice, but you know, it’s already listed on Itinerary 7, together with the Ghosts Tours and a number of other ones for that matter!

Remember how we used to stop in front of every poster advertising the Tours in Edinburgh and how desperately we tried to understand what the lively guides were telling to fascinated audiences all over the Old Town. I’m looking forward to following Colin Brown on the steps of Inspector Rebus ! He seems to know very well his subject! Do you think he speaks French ?

It makes me think, Janice, wouldn’t it be a good idea before embarking on the Rebus Tour to try and read as many Inspector Rebus books as we can? Hum.. I know, another big challenge for both of us, but it would be fun to offer reviews of these books to our readers.

In your last post you said there were seventeen Rebus novels in all, and that Knots and Crosses, published in 1987, was the first one, while Exit Music published in 2007, was the last one. We were in Edinburgh in 2007, and I remember how we wanted to go to the Book Festival to have one copy of this book signed by Ian Rankin for Fabien, the polar expert of the Toulousan Quartet.

Fabien & Nathalie - Toulousan Quartet

We’ve only read one Rebus story so far. I read it to you during our long travel by car from France to Scotland. It was Set in Darkness,  published in 2000, but of course I read the French translation of it, Du fond des ténèbres. (2004). We’ve bought several books by Ian Rankin at Wigtown and I’ve just ordered a copy in English of Set in Darkness on Amazon. It could be useful to have some quotations in English to illustrate our Rebus chronicles as well as Scotiana’s point of view of Edinburgh.

We had printed a number of very interesting articles about Ian Rankin and some very useful notes given to us by Karine Gilabert, an expert in the very big polar department of Mollat Library, Bordeaux to bring along with us on our last trip to Scotland and they proved very useful.

Below is the complete list of all the novels in the series.

Ian-Rankin-Set-in-Darkness-Inspector-Rebus

Du Fond Des Ténèbres - Ian Rankin - Inspecteur Rebus

- Knots and Crosses (1987)

- Hide and Seek (1991)

- Tooth and Nail (1992)

- Strip Jack (1992)

- The Black Book (1993)

- Mortal Causes (1994)

- Let it Bleed (1995)

- Black and Blue (1997)

- The Hanging Garden (1998)

- Dead Souls (1999)

- Set in Darkness (2000)

- The Falls (2001)

- Resurrection Men (2002)

- A Question of Blood (2003)

- Fleshmarket Close (2004)

- The Naming of the Dead (2006)

- Exit Music (2007)

Exit Music - Ian Rankin (Photo Tim Duncan - Licensed Creative Commons)

And to begin with the beginning, what about reading the first Inspector Rebus novel Knots and Crosses?

And now exit Mairiuna

A bientôt et bonne lecture !

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Knotts And Crosses - Inspector Rebus series - Ian Rankin

Touring the beautiful city of Edinburgh has never been so easy since the implementation of various thematic guided tours catering to the visitors flowing in all year round. Be it ghost walks, history, architecture, cycling or literary tours or even a tour of the most famous taverns and pubs, there is something for everyone.

Ian Rankin & Colin Brown - Rebus Tours

Amongst all those tours, there is one Mairiuna that we shall absolutely take upon our next visit to Edinburgh, and that is the literary tour of Ian Rankin’s famous fictional detective, the Rebus Tours.

Imagine strolling along the streets of Edinburgh and stopping by the places we came to know through our readings as if we had lived there and have those literary scenes taking shape and form in front of our eyes? What a thrilling perspective…

Tour – 1 HIDDEN EDINBURGH

Starting in the Rebus pub The Royal Oak, this two hour walking tour features the first Royal High School, the historic Flodden Wall, the grey Carnegie Housing Scheme and a stunning view of the imposing Salisbury Craggs, before reaching the arresting Saint Leonard’s Police Station. The tour then sidles through busy Newington and into the bustling Meadows before arriving at the historic George Square, on to lively Middle Meadows Walk, along Forest Road and outside the impressive Sheriff Court in Chambers Street. Readings from Set in Darkness‚ Dead Souls and Question of Blood are augmented by other readings to present a rounded picture of old and new Edinburgh.

Tour – 2 THE BODY POLITIC

Starting in the Rebus Royal Oak pub, this two-hour walking tour presents the secret City Mortuary, the grim Cowgate and the dour Dumbiedykes, before ascending past the Poetry Library onto the High Street and into the fascinating Canongate Cemetery. A wander up the Royal Mile, with several intriguing stories of Edinburgh’s former mysteries, is completed with a reading in/from Fleshmarket Close. Other Rebus readings are used in order to show the darkness in this most ancient and modern of European capitals.

Ian Rankin wrote seventeen detective novels in the Inspector Rebus mystery series. The first , Knots & Crosses was published in 1987 , and the last one Exit Music, in 2007.

Unlike Conan Doyle with his famous Sherlock Holmes character, Ian Rankin did not announced the death of the well known and acclaimed Inspector Rebus, but instead had him retire in the last novel of the series.

Having started the series in ’87, when he was 40, in 2007 he must be 60. In Scotland, if you’re a cop, if you’re a detective, you’ve got to retire at 60. So I was sort of forced into it. If they changed the law, then he would happily come back and be a cop again.

Ian Rankin -CBC Interview – 2007

Exit Music-Inspector Rebus series-Ian Rankin

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) held a great interview with Ian Rankin in which he talks about the end of his best-selling detective series. Click the link above to access the interview and read all about it.

Colin Brown - Guide on Rebus Tours

Surfing the Internet, I came across  several comments from people who took the Tour, and they are all praise for the guides of the Rebus Tours. And it doesn’t matter if it rains or not, because the guides are so enthusiastic in their presentation that you become unaware of the climate and don’t even care about it anymore. What a testimonial!

When we come to think about it, it’s truly a benefit to take a guided tour because the guides can share with us local legends and anecdotes that are not published in the written documentation freely distributed.  And you and I love to hear those stories!

Can’t wait to take the tour. Don’t forget Mairiuna to write it down on our itinerary. 

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