Ian Rankin

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12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

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Ian Rankin: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	Ian James Rankin • Jack Harvey
Born	April 28, 1960 (age 64) • Scotland
Notable Works	“A Song for the Dark Times” • “Black and Blue” • “Dark Entries” • “Exit Music” • “In a House of Lies” • “Knots and Crosses” • “Rebus: Long Shadows” • “Saints of the Shadow Bible” • “Standing in Another Man’s Grave” • “The Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Short Stories” • “The Complaints” • “The Flood” • “The Impossible Dead”

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Barrie, 1893

J.M. Barrie

Scottish author

Peter Ustinov

Peter Ustinov

British actor, author, and director

Alasdair Gray

Scottish novelist, playwright, and artist

Josephine Tey, 1934

Josephine Tey

Scottish author

D.H. Lawrence

D.H. Lawrence

English writer

Henry James

Henry James

American writer

Smollett, detail of an oil painting by an unknown artist, about 1770; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

Tobias Smollett

Scottish novelist

Graham Greene

Graham Greene

British author

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl

British author

Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith

British author

Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard

British writer

Kate Atkinson

Kate Atkinson

British author and playwright

Galsworthy, oil painting by Rudolf Sauter, 1923; in the University of Birmingham Library, England

John Galsworthy

British writer

Noël Coward

Noël Coward

English playwright, actor, and composer

Sir Stephen Spender

English poet

Fay Weldon

British author

A.A. Milne

A.A. Milne

British author

W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham

British writer

P.G. Wodehouse, 1945.

P.G. Wodehouse

British author

Vernon Lee

English essayist