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Ian Rankin is the creator of Detective Inspector John Rebus, the middle-aged Edinburgh cop whose unorthodox approach to work and life often gets him into trouble in both his job and his relationships.

Rankin's latest book, Resurrection Men, continues his look at the darker side of Edinburgh.

麻豆社 Norfolk's Jim Cassidy interviewed the author when he came to meet his fans at Ottakar's Bookshop in Norwich.

Jim Cassidy: How do you feel about book signings - the more public side of a writer's life?

Ian Rankin: Well it鈥檚 about the only chance I get for feedback from fans so it鈥檚 very useful. It鈥檚 useful if people tell me that I鈥檝e got things wrong, so I can get them right next time. It鈥檚 also useful when people tell me what I鈥檓 doing right.

And I鈥檓 always testing; whether this character or that character works; do people want to see more of Cafferty, the evil gang lord, do they like him, don鈥檛 they like him?

What do they think about me giving Siobhan a much bigger role in the books - Rebus鈥檚 sidekick as was, who鈥檚 now his equal?

So I do enjoy it. I enjoy the travel but you never get to see anywhere; you do places and never see anything. I mean, I don鈥檛 suppose I鈥檓 going to see very much of Norwich, apart from bookshops and a hotel.

Jim Cassidy: Can you remember the first book signings you did? Were they a bit daunting?

Ian Rankin: (laughs) I remember some of the very early ones where nobody turned up! There was an extraordinary one where I flew from Seattle to San Diego, which is about 3,000 miles, to do a book signing and not one person turned up, so I hung around for an hour, went back to the airport, got back on a plane to Seattle.

Yeah, it was daunting. I mean, writers don鈥檛 become writers because they鈥檙e great public performers. And when you first stand up in front of an audience and you鈥檙e going to read your stuff out, it鈥檚 like when you show your work to somebody for the very first time, I think the biggest, most daunting step in a writer鈥檚 life is when they pluck up the courage to show the poem, the short story, whatever it is, to a complete stranger.

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