A contributor to BBC2’s Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin’s Evil Thoughts. He has received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh. He has also recently been appointed to the rank of Deputy Lieutenant of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons. Visit his website at www.ianrankin.net.

By Ian Rankin

The Inspector Rebus series

Knots & Crosses – paperback – ebook

Hide & Seek – paperback – ebook

Tooth & Nail – paperback – ebook

Strip Jack – paperback – ebook

The Black Book – paperback – ebook

Mortal Causes – paperback – ebook

Let it Bleed – paperback – ebook

Black & Blue – paperback – ebook

The Hanging Garden – paperback – ebook

Death Is Not The End (novella)

Dead Souls – paperback – ebook

Set in Darkness – paperback – ebook

The Falls – paperback – ebook

Resurrection Men – paperback – ebook

A Question of Blood – paperback – ebook

Fleshmarket Close – paperback – ebook

The Naming of the Dead – paperback – ebook

Exit Music – paperback – ebook

Other Novels

The Flood – paperback – ebook

Watchman – paperback – ebook

Westwind

A Cool Head (Quickread) – paperback – ebook

Doors Open – paperback – ebook

The Complaints – paperback – ebook

Writing as Jack Harvey

Witch Hunt – paperback – ebook

Bleeding Hearts – paperback – ebook

Blood Hunt – paperback – ebook

Short Stories

A Good Hanging and Other Stories – paperback – ebook

Beggars Banquet – paperback – ebook

Non-Fiction

Rebus’s Scotland – paperback

Ian Rankin

Strip Jack

To the only Jack I’ve ever stripped

He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.

Shaw, Major Barbara

The habit of friendship is matured by constant intercourse.

Libianus, 4th century AD, quoted in Edinburgh,
by Charles McKean

Contents

Cover

Title

Dedication

Praise for Ian Rankin

About the Author

By Ian Rankin

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. The Milking Shed

2. Scratching the Surface

3. Treacherous Steps

4. Tips

5. Up the River

6. Highland Games

7. Duthil

8. Spite and Malice

9. Within Range

10. Brothel Creepers

11. Old School Ties

12. Escort Service

13. Hot-Head

Reading Group Notes

Copyright

Acknowledgements

The first thing to acknowledge is that the constituency of North and South Esk is the author’s creation. However, you don’t need to be Mungo Park to work out that there must be some correlation between North and South Esk and the real world, Edinburgh being a real place, and ‘south and east of Edinburgh’ being a vaguely definable geographical area.

In fact, North and South Esk bears some resemblance to the Midlothian parliamentary constituency – prior to 1983’s Boundary Commission changes – but also bites a small southernmost chunk out of the present Edinburgh Pentlands constituency and a westerly chunk out of East Lothian constituency.

Gregor Jack, too, is fiction, and bears no resemblance to any MP.