The father-of-two remembers his mother, who grew up in Bradford, as a “lovely wee mum” who worked in a school canteen and then a chicken factory.
“She was a great cook, a proper Yorkshire cook. She made the best rice pudding with skin on the top in the oven. She did the best Yorkshire puddings,” he said.
His dad, Jim, died 10 years later. He saw his son become a published author but didn’t live long enough to see him become the bestseller he is today.
Now aged 64, the Edinburgh author has sold more than 35 million copies of his John Rebus series and is about to release his 25th book, Midnight and Blue.
But he has no plans to retire.
He uses his writing to make sense of the world, and when it’s going well “it’s really good fun”.
Warning: The next section contains spoilers for Ian Rankin’s new novel
