AUTHOR Ian Rankin was startled to turn up for an event which warned his fans there would be a “gunshot” and “full frontal nudity”.
Rankin, whose new novel Rather Be The Devil was released last week, gave a talk followed by a book signing in Edinburgh last night (mon).
Before taking to the stage at the Royal Lyceum Theatre he tweeted fans a picture of a sign which stated: “Please note this production contains full frontal male nudity, adult content and a gunshot.
He told fans: “Suddenly worried about my book signing here tonight…”
He later followed this up by tweeting a photo of the audience at the event, with the caption: “View from the stage tonight – apologies to everyone who came expecting gunfire and nudity…”
It is thought that the sign was left up, after being displayed for people attending the play Jumpy, which is currently running at the theatre from Tuesday until Saturday each week.
Audience members were quick to tweet their thanks to Rankin for not following through on the warning.
Hugo Charles Hansen wrote: “Luckily we saw nothing of the sort. Thanks for keeping your trousers on.”
Mary Hopkin joked: “I wonder which aspect scared you the most…”
Michael Wood quipped: “The lengths some people will go to in order to sell books. Disgusting.”
Some users were left slightly disappointed after the event.
Kathleen Adamson said: “was just going to say – it sounds like a belter of a night out.”
@MrsManlapas added: “Honestly, but like it could also be the best signing ever.”
Livia Llewellyn said: “Wait, this isn’t part of your book signing? Dammit…”
Several images that audience members took of the event, show Rankin speaking in front of an amusing backdrop, thought to be from the set of Jumpy.
One picture, which Rankin retweeted to his followers, shows the author in front of what appears to be an abstract art installation featuring sofas, chairs and several kitchen appliances.
He captioned this image: “It was an interesting backdrop…”
