By Sara Pearce
The Cincinnati Enquirer

IF YOU GO

Who: Scottish author Ian Rankin What: Discussion and signing of A Question of Blood When: 7 p.m. Friday, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Edwards and Madison roads, Norwood, 396-8960; and 2 p.m. Saturday, Books & Co., Town & Country Shopping Center, 350 E. Stroop Road, Kettering, (937) 298-6540.

Scottish mystery writer Ian Rankin will hit town this week to discuss his 15th Inspector Rebus novel, A Question of Blood (Little, Brown; $22.95; 406 pages).

The book, just released here, is about the murder of two boys at a posh private school and the questionable death of an ex-convict. It has the volatile and unpredictable Detective Inspector John Rebus mired in cop shop backbiting and long-forgotten family issues, and looking at possible unemployment.

Yes, he has been suspended again. But does that stop him from working both cases? Of course not.

We caught up with Rankin, via phone, at San Francisco's Hotel Monaco to ask him about Rebus, writing and music.

I am worried about Rebus. I was on Page 1 and already he was in deep trouble. In the hospital. Mysterious burns. What is his problem?

I am not sure he has a problem. I think fans like it that he is always on the edge - they are never sure that he is going to survive this book physically and emotionally. He is always on verge of a nervous breakdown.

The one thing that keeps him sane is the job.

His involvement in other lives is a way of avoiding problems of his own - it makes him a good detective but a bad social human being.

That brings me to my concern about Detective Sgt. Siobhan Clarke. She is getting more like him - reckless, bad relationships, bad food, good music. And now, are the two of them, um, becoming romantically involved?

I am 200 hundred pages into the new book and I can state categorically that they are not romantically involved.

She is interesting for me to write, because she has some of his best traits but not his worst. She has learned a lot from him but is her own person. She has skills he will never have.

Since you mentioned the next Rebus book, when can we expect it?

It will be released in the U.K. at the end of September, so it will be here about this time next year ... but I have to finish it first.

Today, the publisher sent the jacket design, so it is getting serious.

Do you have a contract for a certain number of books a year?

Yes. This is the last one of this contract.

I am beginning to slow down. I wrote two books a year when I was young, partly because my early books were not as long and not as complicated, and partly because I needed the money.

In my next contract I write one book every two years, which is good because Rebus is aging in real time.

There are only about five more books before he reaches retirement age.

I didn't realize when I started it that it would become a series. I wrote the first book (Knots & Crosses) as a standalone, so I made him 40. I made him too old.

Now that you are, as they put it in your bio, "the No. 1 best-selling mystery writer in the United Kingdom," I see that one of your early novels, the thriller "Watchman," is back in print. Is the publisher just capitalizing on your fame?

They were keen to do it. I had three out of print - two spy books and one so-called literary novel. Fans are always asking where they can get them.

I read them again and thought I needed to do a lot of work on two of them but Watchman seemed OK. I was happy with the writing.

You could only get them on the Internet, and pay ridiculous

amounts, from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

My first novel, The Flood, was originally sold for 15 bucks, now it is selling for $6,000. Only 200 hardcovers and about 600 paperbacks were printed.

There is a light moment in the book where the characters debate the top three Scottish singers of all time, who would you pick?

That would change every day for me, depending on who I am listening to. John Martyn, a folk singer, stands out; he has this gruff voice. Jim Kerr, from Simple Minds, is a great rock singer with a soulful voice. Currently, a guy named Jackie Leven - I don't know how to characterize him, he is like Van Morrison, a singer and songwriter. He is almost unknown. He puts a lot of passion and soul in his singing.

I already missed Annie Lennox. See, that's the problem, once you start thinking of three, you think of another 12.

Rebus always has an eclectic mix of music going on. Who are you listening to these days?

When I travel people give me CDs - it is wonderful. The last time I was here, the drummer from Devo gave me his latest.

Yesterday, I was being driven around San Francisco and the driver was letting me listen to a live Television album - they were a great New York City guitar band.

I also have been listening to some Bob Marley.

During your visit to Cincinnati last year, you made it clear that, like Rebus, you could be found hanging out in Edinburgh's pubs. Have you found a great American pub yet?

The one that sticks out is in Houston, the Kelvin Arms. It is a Scottish pub run by a guy from Glasgow.

It is in an old bank and it still has a big walk-in safe that is the lounge. You sit in there and order up pizza and drink Scottish beer.

It sounds much more refined than the Oxford Bar ...

Let me tell you, it was not refined the night I went in.