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Author Ian Rankin is to take a year off work and travel, he has told the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The Orion crime author has said he doesn’t want “to die slumped over my desk” after working on his latest Inspector Rebus novel and first play, Dark Road, which is due to open at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh next month.
Rankin told an audience at the Edinburgh literature festival that he was acutely aware of the recent deaths of his author friend Iain Banks at the age of 59 and the long time head of the Scottish Arts Council, Gavin Wallace, at the age of 53.
According to the Scotsman, Rankin said: “I’m going to have a year off next year. I’m knackered, basically. Bluntly, I’m just shattered. I need the batteries recharging big-time.”
“Friends of mine are dropping dead. Gavin Wallace dropped dead at the age of 53 earlier this year. I’m 53. Then of course Iain Banks was taken from us at the age of 59.
“I don’t want to die slumped over my desk. So I’m taking a year off next year and doing some travelling.”
Ranking also revealed some clues about the content of his new novel, Saints of the Shadow Bible, which is out on 7th November.
The book will cover the independence referendum and Rebus will be a "No" voter. The book also features the controversial change to the “double jeopardy” law in Scotland and is set “with a referendum on Scottish independence around the corner”.