Once Michael Chabon finishes up his adventure-themed novella for the New York Times Magazine, Ian Rankin will start his own multi-week serial for the paper, the Independent reports, thereby becoming the first non-American to have a specially commissioned work serialised by the Gray Lady. “Since previous “serial providers” have included Patricia Cornwell, Michael Connelly, Elmore Leonard and Michael Chabon, the offer was hard to turn down,” said Rankin, who was approached by the NYT to write the story late last year.

He spent all of January writing the novella at a 2500-word-a-day clip. “It was quite intense but not bad at all,” he said to the Scotsman. “I had the idea and I just ran with it really. It’s hard to try and think about it right now because having sent the copy over to the paper I immediately settled down to the next Rebus novel so now my head is full of him again.” And don’t expect Inspector Rebus, who’ll make his final appearance (unless he makes cameos in future novels, as rumored) in book format later this year, to figure in the story.