CRIME fiction lovers will have a rare opportunity to hear one of the genre’s most renowned authors Ian Rankin in conversation with a forensics expert about the how the science is portrayed in literature.

Rankin – creator of the hugely popular Inspector Rebus novels – will be talking to leading forensic anthropologist Professor Sue Black.

Professor Black is director of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at Dundee University.

Her forensic expertise has been crucial to a number of high-profile criminal cases.

She founded the British Association of Human Identification in 2001 – the same year she received an OBE for her work in identifying massacre victims in the mass graves in Kosovo.

The event at St Matthew’s Academy on Wednesday, October 21 is part of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Irvine Bay Talk Science series.

It is free but must be booked on the RSE website at royalsoced.org.uk.

The talk is at 7pm and refreshments will be served from 6.30pm.