Ian Rankin's lunch with Alan

At one point in Ian Rankin's latest book, The Impossible Dead, the main character Inspector Malcolm Fox is told by his dedicated co-worker Sgt. Kaye: "You know, Malcolm, just for once, I'd like a nice clear-cut death".

But if Kaye really wants that, he had better get a different author.

Rankin fans are well aware that very little is clear-cut in his books -- whether it's those starring his most famous detective Rebus or now, the Malcolm Fox books set in the world of The Complaints Unit.

Fox's official job might be the investigation OF the investigators, but it ends up taking him to the scene of more than a few gruesome murders along the way...

And so it was this week at lunch that Alan got to talk about the gurgling stream of water that comes out of the corpse's mouth or Rankin's description of the brackish smell in the small, already-claustrophobic room during the autopsy.

Here's some of Alan's lunch with Ian.