Ian Rankin was born in the village of Cardenden in Fife in 1960. He went to school in Auchterderran and then Cowdenbeath where an English teacher recognised his writing ability and encouraged him to go into higher education, the first of his family to do so. He went to Edinburgh University where he studied English Literature and Language, graduating in 1982. Between 1983 and 1986 he returned to work on a PhD thesis on modern Scottish fiction, but became increasingly involved in his own writing.

After university and before his success as a novelist, Rankin had a number of jobs which included working as a grape-picker, a swineherd, a journalist for a hi-fi magazine, and a taxman. Marrying in 1986, he lived for a time in London where he worked at the National Folktale Centre, followed by a period in France, before returning to Edinburgh where he still lives with his wife and two sons.

His first novel, The Flood, was published in 1986, and set in a decaying mining village; while the following year saw the publication of Knots and Crosses, the first of the 'Rebus' series, for which he is internationally renowned.

Inspector Rebus, Rankin's protagonist, is a somewhat cynical, middle-aged detective. Divorced and fond of whisky, he works in the darker heart of Edinburgh, often coming into conflict with police hierarchy, and retains a certain empathy for the criminal elements with whom he deals. This shadowy image of Edinburgh, projected in the novels, is far removed from the heritage and shopping opportunities with which the city is usually associated. To date, Rankin has written fifteen 'Rebus' novels, four of which have been adapted for television, with further titles planed. There are also a number of novels under the pseudonym 'Jack Harvey'.

Rankin is now the most widely-read crime novelist in the UK, as well as having the Rebus novels translated into many languages. In 1988 he was elected a Hawthornden Fellow and in 1992 won the Chandler-Fullbright Award. His literary achievements have also been recognised by the Universities of Abertay Dundee and St Andrews, which have awarded him honorary degrees, and by an OBE in the Queen's Golden Jubilee Birthday Honours List of 2002.

Consideration of Rankin's work has begun to appear in university literature departments, highlighting a depth and complexity which, it is felt, crime fiction rarely exhibits. Rankin is a regular guest on the BBC's Newsnight Review programme and in 2002 had a three-part series on the nature of evil, broadcast by Channel 4. He is often to be found in Edinburgh's Oxford Bar, a watering hole also frequented by his fictional anti-hero, Rebus.