Ian Rankin's 6 best books

Ian Rankin is a worldwide #1 bestselling writer, and has won an Edgar Award, a Gold Dagger for fiction, a Diamond Dagger for career excellence, and the Chandler-Fulbright Award.

Rankin named his six best books for the Daily Express. One title on the list:

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by Muriel Spark

I read this at university and have probably re-read it a dozen times since. For a short book it packs a powerful punch. It’s both funny and moving and, in Miss Brodie, Spark created one of the great monsters of literature.

Read about another book on Rankin's list.

Also see Rankin's six best books list for The Week magazine.

Read J. Kingston Pierce's 2000 interview with Rankin at January Magazine.

Miss Jean Brodie is one of John Mullan's ten best teachers in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue