Why the Inspector Rebus novels will endure

As well as portraying a fascinating character who won’t grow old, each book offers a finely rendered snapshot of a moment in the social history of Edinburgh

Around 10 years ago, I mocked the idea of any sane person wanting to read an ebook. I’ve been wary of making predictions ever since. All the same, I hope I’m on safe ground when I say that the Inspector Rebus novels are going to be of lasting interest to posterity.

I say this not because of the quality of the prose, or the sheer number of people who currently read the books. I may think they have artistic interest, but I can’t speak for future generations.

Related: Inspector Rebus: the birth of a real heavyweight

Crime fiction is going through a second golden age. It seems to me … that the literary novel is actually looking back. The crime novel is dealing with illegal immigrants, paedophiles, drugs, and it’s dealing with the big moral questions of good and evil.

Hood held up his mobile phone. ‘It’s a WAP,’ he explained sheepishly. ‘Just got it today. Sends emails, the lot.’

She’d wondered what it was that made the Scottish people reach for the comfort foods, the chocolate, chips and fizzy drinks: was it the climate? Or could the answer lie deeper, within the nation’s character?

‘I’m guessing,’ she said, ‘that you like a fry-up on a Sunday.’

‘Am I so transparent?’

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