Fife author reveals why his crime novels lack romance

Ian Rankin has revealed he was banned from writing sex scenes involving his famous detective Rebus.

The Fife-born author said he had penned a passage involving the Edinburgh police officer in bed with a woman in one of his early novels.

However, his editor insisted that the scene was removed as he did not think it would go down well with readers.

Rankin, 60, was told to avoid any graphic descriptions of sex in his books and leave it to the reader’s imagination.

He told the Cultural Coven podcast: “There is not much romance in my books. In the third novel, when I was still very young, I did put a sex scene in. I thought ‘If you’re going to do crime novels there should be a bit of sex in there as well.’

“I had Rebus having sex and my editor said ‘No, please don’t. For God’s sake, leave us at the bedroom door and leave something to the reader’s imagination.’

“Since then I have never written another sex scene which I’m very happy about because I found it really toe-curling to try and write that sort of thing.”

The Rebus series, which has sold more than 20 million books, accounts for an estimated 10% of all crime book sales in the UK and has been translated into 26 languages.

A new television series featuring the detective is also being planned.

Gregory Burke, the playwright who wrote Black Watch, the muchlauded National Theatre of Scotland play, is working on the script.

Ian Rankin was told to avoid any graphic depictions.