Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960， Lan Rankin graduated from the university of Edingburgh and has since been employed as grape-picker， swineherd， taxman， alcohol researcher， hi-fi journalist and punk His first Rebus novel， < Knots and Grosses>， was published in 1987 and the Rebus books have now been translated into over twenty languages and are increasingly popular in the USA
