Knots and Crosses
- 233
- Pages
- about 4.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Knots and Crosses” introduces Inspector Rebus in a short, dark Edinburgh crime novel, a sound start to a long series. Rankin wrote it as a postgraduate student and housed his detective in Marchmont, directly across from the window he looked out of while writing. Some readers find it plainly an early effort, light on twists and heavy on genre conventions. At under 250 pages it is a brief introduction to the character.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Knots and Crosses is a 1987 crime novel by Ian Rankin. It is the first of the Inspector Rebus novels. It was written while Rankin was a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. In the introduction to this novel, Rankin states that Rebus lives directly opposite the window in Marchmont from which he himself looked out while writing the book.
Reading order · Inspector Rebus
Full order & progress →- Knots and CrossesThis book
7.47.4 / 10 - Hide and Seek
–Not ranked yet - Tooth and Nail
–Not ranked yet - Strip Jack
–Not ranked yet - The Black Book
–Not ranked yet - Mortal Causes
–Not ranked yet - Let It Bleed
–Not ranked yet - Black & Blue
–Not ranked yet - The Hanging Garden
–Not ranked yet - Dead Souls
–Not ranked yet - Set in Darkness
–Not ranked yet - The Falls
–Not ranked yet - Resurrection Men
–Not ranked yet - A Question of Blood
–Not ranked yet - Fleshmarket Close
–Not ranked yet - The Naming of the Dead
–Not ranked yet - Exit Music
–Not ranked yet - Standing in Another Man's Grave
–Not ranked yet - Saints of the Shadow Bible
–Not ranked yet - Even Dogs in the Wild
–Not ranked yet - Rather Be the Devil
–Not ranked yet - In a House of Lies
–Not ranked yet - A Song for the Dark Times
–Not ranked yet - A Heart Full of Headstones
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.2 across 123 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 46% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Crime & mystery average of 7.6. That is how 7.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.2 | 123 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is Knots and Crosses?
It has 233 pages — shorter than 93% of the ranked books in Crime & mystery.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Crime & mystery — and a score of 7.4, the closest to this book.
