Ian Rankin and Vanda Symon


  • Here's me and my mate Ian Rankin enjoying dinner out with a bunch of friends at Scotia after his talk in Dunedin. It's a bit blurry, but hey, considering I was trying to be elegant in a dress while sporting a red cast and crutches, and heck, it was Ian Rankin - I'm not going to complain!
    Photo taken last week during Ian Rankin's visit to Dunedin as part of his NZ tour to promote his latest book - Standing In Another Man's Grave

    They have several things in common of course - both are successful writers of crime fiction. Rankin lives in Edinburgh while Vanda Symon lives in Dunedin, the old Scot's name for Ediburgh. Both have sometimes difficult principal characaters - Rankin the irascible John Rebus and Symon the sassy Sam Shephard. 
    Of course Symon is still a comparative novice with a handful of novels published while Rankin's list stretches way into the twenties.
    I eagerly await their next books.

    Footnote:
    I lifted the above photo, without permission, from Vanda Symon's Facebook page!