17 Best Ian Rankin Books
The best Ian Rankin books, ranked by how many expert sources recommend each one, with notes for readers choosing Rebus, Malcolm Fox, or standalone mysteries.
Our take
Ian Rankin's crime fiction explores the distance between an institution's public reputation and what happens inside it. Edinburgh is central to the Rebus novels, where murders lead into questions about money, politics, and the compromises of police work. John Rebus is stubborn and often difficult, and his career and relationships change across the series. Individual investigations can stand alone, but reading forward lets the consequences of earlier choices accumulate.
Knots and Crosses introduces Rebus, while Black and Blue offers a broader example of the series without requiring every earlier book. Exit Music is better saved until his working life means something to you. Malcolm Fox begins his own investigations in The Complaints before his path overlaps with Rebus. Doors Open offers a standalone heist, and the story collections suit shorter reading sessions. Begin with Knots and Crosses for chronology or Black and Blue for a substantial first sample.
17 books · 10 sources · Last updated
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Reading Ian Rankin in order? See all Ian Rankin books in order
How to choose from this list
Skip to the full rankingIf you want to begin with Rebus: Knots and Crosses
If you want a broader first sample: Black and Blue
If you want Malcolm Fox's investigations: The Complaints → The Impossible Dead
If you want a standalone crime novel: Doors Open → Watchman
If you want short stories: The Beat Goes On → Beggars Banquet
If you're following Rebus into later life: Exit Music → Saints of the Shadow Bible → Even Dogs in the Wild
The 17 books, ranked
Ranked by how many expert sources name each book. Ties go to the book more people recommend.
For readers who want to meet Rebus at the beginning and follow his development. This shorter debut establishes his personal damage, though its more concentrated psychological thriller approach differs from the broader police novels that follow.
What it's about
Detective Sergeant John Rebus hunts a killer abducting schoolgirls in Edinburgh while anonymous notes dredge up his buried SAS past. As the case turns personal, he must face his own history to stop a predator stalking the city.
For readers already invested in Rebus, Clarke, and Fox who want their different approaches brought together. The shifting professional roles refresh familiar relationships, though the recurring cast and accumulated history make this less suitable as an introduction.
What it's about
Threatening notes and a shooting pull semi retired gangster Cafferty back into danger, while Siobhan Clarke investigates a murdered prosecutor and Malcolm Fox shadows a Glaswegian crime family. Rebus is dragged out of retirement to uncover a decades old betrayal behind the new violence.
For readers who prefer investigating police misconduct to following a rule-breaking detective. Malcolm Fox offers a different route into Rankin's Edinburgh, though his quieter temperament and institutional focus give the story less of Rebus's abrasive energy.
What it's about
Detective Inspector Malcolm Fox works in the Complaints, the unit that investigates other cops. Tasked with looking into rising star Jamie Breck over child pornography allegations, Fox is pulled into a parallel murder close to home and must decide which officers he can trust.
For readers who want a substantial introduction to Rebus without starting at the beginning. The interlocking investigations extend Rankin's view of Scotland beyond Edinburgh, though the multiple strands require more attention than a single-case procedural.
What it's about
Juggling four cases at once, Rebus chases a killer copycatting the unsolved Bible John murders while under internal investigation himself. From Glasgow oil rigs to Shetland, he confronts past mistakes and the price of bending rules in pursuit of the truth.
For readers who want a procedural shaped by the prospect of retirement and unfinished business. The approaching deadline adds emotional pressure, though the significance of Rebus's departure is stronger after spending time with the earlier novels.
What it's about
In his final days before mandatory retirement, Rebus investigates the beating death of a Russian dissident poet and a linked house fire. The trail winds through Scottish politics, oligarch money and Cafferty’s shifting power, while Siobhan Clarke prepares to face the job without her mentor.
For readers who enjoy police conspiracies and an investigation that tests professional loyalties. The retraining setting turns Rebus's difficult reputation into part of the structure, though the concealed agendas make this a more intricate procedural.
What it's about
After throwing a mug at a superior, Rebus is packed off to a residential retraining course with other troublesome detectives. Secretly, he is there to root out an old corruption scandal, even as Siobhan Clarke investigates an art dealer’s murder back in Edinburgh.
For readers interested in the friction between Rebus's methods and Fox's scrutiny of police behavior. The reopened investigation questions old loyalties directly, though familiarity with both detectives gives the conflicts more weight than a first encounter.
What it's about
Reinstated as a detective sergeant, Rebus helps Malcolm Fox reopen an old murder tied to the Summerhall station where he once served. As Police Scotland is created and loyalties shift, he must decide how much of his own past he is willing to expose.
For readers attracted to Edinburgh's historical mysteries alongside a modern police investigation. The contrast between physical clues and an online puzzle gives Rebus and Clarke distinct roles, though the early-internet elements now firmly place the novel in its period.
What it's about
When a banker’s postgraduate daughter disappears near Edinburgh, a huge investigation swings into motion. Rebus and Siobhan Clarke chase an online role playing game, eerie miniature coffins and family pressure to uncover what really happened to a young woman who slipped through the cracks.
For readers who want an early standalone rather than a long detective series. Rankin applies his interest in compromised institutions to espionage, though the Cold War setting and thriller conventions differ from the later Edinburgh police novels.
What it's about
MI5 surveillance officer Miles Flint begins to suspect his own service after two disasters strike operations he worked on. Sent to Belfast to monitor an arrest, he realises an assassination is planned and ends up on the run with an Irish suspect, hunting a lethal conspiracy.
Doors Open
For readers who want a standalone heist with the criminals at the center. The art-world setting and amateur ambitions offer a change from police procedure, though the caper still moves into danger rather than remaining a light comedy.
What it's about
Bored millionaire Mike Mackenzie teams up with an art professor and a banker to steal paintings from a Scottish art warehouse on an open doors day, swapping the originals for forgeries. To pull it off they enlist a gangster, and the perfect crime starts to unravel.
For readers drawn to cold cases that implicate the investigators themselves. Clarke's perspective puts useful pressure on Rebus's version of events, though the established relationships and references to earlier failures reward familiarity with the series.
What it's about
When a long missing private investigator is found dead in a rusted car, his ankles chained with police issue cuffs, old failures come back to haunt the force. Rebus, now retired and ill, works alongside Clarke and Fox to untangle buried corruption.
For readers who want Rebus confronting connections between individual crimes and political power. The expanding investigation gives institutional pressure a central role, though the accumulation of deaths and competing interests requires close attention to the plot.
What it's about
After a disastrous car chase ends with two young men jumping from the Forth Road Bridge, Rebus cannot accept the official line. His search links a dying prisoner, missing money and a powerful clique in government that would prefer silence.
For readers interested in Edinburgh's contrasts and the political forces surrounding a murder investigation. The festival setting sharpens the tension between public celebration and hidden violence, though the sectarian background asks for attention to its historical context.
What it's about
During the Edinburgh Festival a brutally executed body is found in a hidden close, marked with extremist tattoos. Rebus is drawn into a murky alliance between Scottish nationalist hardliners and Northern Irish paramilitaries, with Cafferty hovering at the edges.
For readers who want to continue with Malcolm Fox before joining the later Rebus crossovers. The inquiry broadens internal-affairs work into political history, though its layered secrets demand patience and some interest in Scotland's institutional past.
What it's about
Fox and his Complaints team travel to Fife to check that a tainted detective’s colleagues are clean. When the officer’s whistleblowing uncle is murdered, Fox finds himself knee deep in an old political scandal and a new cover up that powerful people want buried.
For established Rebus readers who want the long-running questions about his conduct pushed further. Clarke's divided loyalties sharpen the moral tension, though the later-series consequences and unresolved forward momentum make this a poor place to begin.
What it's about
Rebus faces trial for a serious crime, even as flashbacks show him, Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox probing abuse and corruption around Edinburgh’s Tynecastle station. Old deals with Big Ger Cafferty and a new crime family force Rebus to reckon with what kind of cop he has been.
Beggars Banquet
For readers who want to sample Rankin beyond a single detective while retaining some Rebus stories. The varied collection shows different approaches to crime, though changing characters and lengths offer less continuity than the dedicated Rebus collection.
What it's about
Twenty one crime stories range from suburban murders to hitmen in fairgrounds and bent cops on their last job. Several feature John Rebus, while others explore Edinburgh and beyond, offering sharp little studies of greed, guilt and bad luck.
For readers who want Rebus investigations in shorter sittings rather than a full novel. The collection samples different stages of his career, though compressed cases give less space to the expanding social canvas of the longer books.
What it's about
This collection gathers every John Rebus short story in one volume, following him from early days on the force to uneasy retirement. The pieces fill in gaps between the novels and spotlight Edinburgh’s alleys, pubs and lost souls in bite sized investigations.
Sources
- 1
WHERE TO START READING RANKIN | Hachette UK
ianrankin.net
- 2
The Best Books in Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus Series | Novel Suspects
novelsuspects.com
- 3
7 Best Ian Rankin Books (2025) - Are They Worth Reading?
ereads.com
- 4
Books by Ian Rankin and Complete Book Reviews
publishersweekly.com
- 5
Ian Rankin Books in Order: The Complete Rebus Series Guide | Editors Reads
editorsreads.com
- 6
Ian Rankin: Where to Start | The Village Bookshop
villagebookshop.co.uk
- 7
Ian Rankin (52 books)
goodreads.com
- 8
5 Books to get you into Reading Ian Rankin – For Reading Addicts
forreadingaddicts.co.uk
- 9
Best Ian Rankin Books 2024: Here are the Rebus author's 11 most highly rated novels
scotsman.com
- 10
Best Ian Rankin book out of this list that my library carries? : r/suggestmeabook
reddit.com
Edited by
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