Rankin left red-faced after awards dalliance

Ian Rankin, the creator of the Rebus detective novels, has been forced to issue an abject apology to his wife and family following an indiscretion with a 26-year-old female admirer at the British Book Awards in London last week.

While fellow writers, such as J K Rowling and Alexander McCall Smith, discussed sales and plotlines, Rankin, 47, who missed out on the Best Crime Thriller Award, turned his attention to the as yet unidentified mystery girl. He eventually took her back to his room at the Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane.

A fellow reveller said: "Ian was in great form, knocking back the drink. The next thing he was dancing with a young girl and the pair were enjoying a passionate snog. Then they were up in his room."

A shame-faced Rankin explains: "I got very drunk and did some stupid things which I now regret. I have let my whole family down and I've just got to try and sort things out now."

The author's behaviour is not unlike that of his fictional creation, Inspector John Rebus, who operates through a drink-induced haze and frequently wakes in the morning with no recollection of where he is. And Rankin has admitted some previous form on this front.

"It happens in London sometimes," he said in a recent interview, "because when you go out with publishers they tend to drink quite a lot and sometimes I wake up in my hotel room thinking, 'How did I get back here last night?'"