Inspector Rebus span a broad spectrum of Scotland, including council estates, tenements, business districts, nightclubs, prisons, dying mining towns, secluded villages and desolate hillsides, as well as the better-known pubs and streets of Edinburgh. Some of these locations are fictional, although they may be based on real places. For example, the Pilmuir estate is a conflation of the two real Edinburgh locations Pilton and Muirhouse. Other locations, such as the Oxford Bar, Arden Street, and St Leonards police station, are real. Frequent references to real places, or local politics firmly ground the Rebus series in the real world. Another strong feature of
Merchiston area is home to writers Ian Rankin (author of the Inspector Rebus novels), Lin Anderson, Colin Douglas, Alexander McCall Smith (author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels) and comedian Dylan Moran. J.K. Rowling had her Edinburgh home in Merchiston for many years but is said to have moved to Cramond. Merchiston was also the childhood home of Scotland and British Lions rugby legends Gavin Hastings and Scott Hastings. Also in the area are a number of independent schools including George Watson's College and a Steiner School. On the fringes of the area where it meets Craiglockhart (to the