Ian Rankin is considered by many to be Scotland's greatest living crime fiction author. Most well known for his Inspector Rebus series-which has earned critical acclaim as well as scores of fans worldwide-Rankin is a prolific author whose other works include spy thrillers, nonfiction books and articles, short stories, novels, graphic novels, audio recordings, television/film, and plays. This companion-the first to provide a complete look at all of his writings-includes alphabetized entries on Rankin's works, characters, and themes; a biography; a chronology; maps of Rebus' Edinburgh; and an annotated bibliography. A champion of both Edinburgh and Scotland, Rankin continues to combine engaging entertainment with socio-political commentary showing Edinburgh as a microcosm of Scotland, and Scotland as a microcosm of the world. His writing investigates questions of Scottish identity, British history, masculinity, and contemporary culture while providing mystery readers with complex, suspenseful plots, realistic character development, and a unique mix of American hard-boiled and procedural styles with Scottish dialects and sensibilities.

One of the most prolific crime writers of the last century, Evan Hunter published more than 120 novels from 1952 to 2005 under a variety of pseudonymns. He also wrote several teleplays and screenplays, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, and the 1954 novel The Blackboard Jungle. When the Mystery Writers of America named Hunter a Grand Master, he gave the designation to his alter ego, Evan McBain, best known for his long-running police procedural series about the detectives of the 87th Precinct. This comprehensive companion provides detailed information about all of Evan Hunter's/Ed McBain's works, characters, and recurring themes. From police detective and crime stories to dramatic novels and films, this reference celebrates the vast body of literature of this versatile writer.

Robert Downey, Jr., may be best known as Iron Man, but his career as an actor stretches back to the 1980s and features several Oscar-quality roles. He has worked with a wide range of innovative directors from Oliver Stone and Robert Altman to Richard Linklater and Shane Black, and has played punk kids, detectives, journalists and even a serial killer. This fascinating collection of essays combines scholarly attention to detail with a highly readable style to examine, in roughly chronological order, more than 25 of Downey's best performances in films as diverse as Less Than Zero, Chaplin, Natural Born Killers, A Scanner Darkly, The Soloist and Tropic Thunder. Including a biography, chronology and filmography, the book highlights the inseparability of the actor's biography from his works and from the unique combination of talents he brings to his roles.