BEST-SELLING author Ian Rankin brought the first day of the Dundee Literary Festival to a close in front of a sell-out crowd at Dundee University last night.

The writer, whose 17 Inspector Rebus novels have won him critical acclaim and fans across the globe, discussed his craft and the projects he is working on.

Mr Rankin, who is originally from Cardenden in Fife, gave a reading from a book he is writing for a project that helps adult literacy and discussed his forthcoming novel as well as his work on the comic book Hellblazer.

“I was asked about five times to write something for adults who have a reading age of 12 or 13 so when I got a gap I decided to do it—although the gap has now disappeared,” he said.

“It’s supposed to be finished by the end of June and I’ve only really just started but it is only 15,000 words.”

Mr Rankin’s new novel, Open Doors, is due out at the end of the year and will feature an Edinburgh that is familiar to his millions of fans.

“It is all new characters but Rebus’s retirement does get a mention. It’s about an art heist and set in Edinburgh and I’m just doing a few final nips and tucks to it just now.”

The author also recently completed a stand-alone graphic novel for the American comic series Hellblazer which features a well-known Scottish bogeyman.

“You have to describe what you want the author to visualise,” he said.

“Although it’s an American series with an English hero I was able to get a bit of Scotland in there—it features Sawney Bean.”