Street name theft is a case fit for Rebus

Cheeky thieves keep on targeting a street sign honouring best-selling author Ian Rankin and selling it on the internet.

But instead of making a replacement, the Rebus creator has revealed the builders buy it back off auction website eBay because it’s cheaper.

The 53-year-old said: “I got a call a few years ago telling me they were building a new street in Cardenden where I grew up, saying they’d like to name it after me.

“‘That’s a bit odd I thought,’ but I went along to the ceremony and cut the ribbon and they gave me this metal sign as a souvenir.

“Apparently, the real sign keeps getting stolen and the person who nicks it keeps putting it on eBay, and it’s cheaper for them to buy the stolen sign than make a new one.”

The crack crime writer was brought up in the former mining town in Fife and went to school in nearby Auchterderran before moving on to Beath High School in Cowdenbeath.

He then left to attend Edinburgh University in 1978 but returned to Cardenden years later to help inspire his writing.

The street named after him is part of a development constructed by builders Brenton Homes, with prices originally ranging from £119,000 to £250,000.

Ian joked: “I was really surprised at how expensive property has become.

“I’m kind of being priced out the market in the street named after me.”

The dad-of-two keeps the replica street sign in the music room of the family home in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh.

Alongside, Ian also has a selection of his favourite artefacts including a bottle of beer named after his fictional detective, and pictures of him and Rolling Stone Keith Richards.

Rankin added: “He is one of my heroes, and I share the same publisher. A few years ago they invited me to a party for him to celebrate the publication of his autobiography Life.

“The party was in the suite of a little private hotel in central London and there were only a few dozen people there.

“I sat down next to Keith on the sofa, we had a bit of a laugh I can’t remember what about and he signed a book for me, ‘To Ian, with love, Keith, 2010’.

“It’s a nice little memento.

“To celebrate 20 years of Rebus, the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh invited me along and we made a special beer with a mystery ingredient.

“It was sold for a limited period in local pubs and off licences.

“The bottled beer had the slogan, ‘Go on, murder a pint’. Now I can reveal the fresh ingredient was fresh ginger.

“I half-jokingly asked the brewers if it could be blood but they said they couldn’t for health and safety reasons.”