This is alist of characters from theInspector Rebus series ofdetective novels by the Scottish writerIan Rankin. They are all fictional characters that have appeared in more than one novel in the series. A number of the characters appeared in thetelevision adaptations made forITV.
Detective Inspector John Rebus is the protagonist in the Inspector Rebus series. He was born in 1947 inFife and left school at the age of fifteen to join theArmy. After serving inNorthern Ireland he applied to undergo selection for theSAS, but after a horrendous ordeal in training, left the army and joinedLothian and Borders Police.
He is initially introduced as aDetective Sergeant, and is promoted toDetective Inspector early in the series.
Detective Sergeant Siobhan "Shiv" Clarke is Rebus's trusted friend and partner. Her given name is represented inIPA /ʃɨˈvɔːn/. In the television dramatisations, Clarke was first played by Gayanne Potter, and then byClaire Price. In the 2024 reboot, she is played byLucie Shorthouse.
Clarke is much younger than Rebus. Her parents are English and politically active on the left. She has a university degree and is a devoted follower ofHibernian Football Club. As a woman, she faces obstacles to acceptance in the police force, especially since, like Rebus, she enjoys the challenges of solving cases rather than administrative work or networking.
The relationship between Clarke and Rebus is emotional; she is his apprentice but also something of a daughter figure, and there is, during the middle years, some romantic charge in the relationship as well. She first appears inThe Black Book (1993) as a newly promotedDetective Constable. She remains a useful sidekick of Rebus untilSet in Darkness (2000), when she becomes a secondary protagonist with chapters devoted to her cases and perspective. She is promoted to Detective Sergeant by the beginning ofResurrection Men (2002) and to Detective Inspector afterExit Music (2007). As a DI in the later novels, after Rebus's first retirement, she provides him with access to cases, and eventually she, Rebus, and Malcolm Fox become a kind of team. InSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013), Rebus rejoins the police as a DS and she is his superior. InA Song for the Dark Times (2020) she is the one who helps Rebus move downstairs to his new ground floor flat.
She is more willing and able than Rebus to incorporate technology into her work, and inThe Falls (2001) she pursues a killer through an email correspondence while Rebus explores historical parallels. She is also more cautious than he about violating policies and procedures, and provides a voice of reason.
Like Rebus, she is "married to the job." Most of the men romantically interested in her (or she in them) are policemen. At one point, inResurrection Men, she has three suitors but prefers the one who is willing to settle for a platonic relationship; later, she and Malcolm Fox have a similarly platonic relationship. In the later books she has an affair with divorced colleague DCI Graham Sutherland.
Detective Chief Superintendent Gill Templer is a regular character in Rebus series up throughA Question of Blood (2003). She first appears inKnots and Crosses as a Detective Inspector and Press Liaison; she and Rebus have an affair. In the two subsequent novels, he is still in love with her but their relationship is on-and-off-again; it ends definitively when he chooses to move in with Patience Aitken inStrip Jack (1992). Templer is ambitious and networks with other women who are pushing the boundaries in their professions. She is promoted toDetective Chief Inspector inLet it Bleed and thus becomes Rebus's boss at St. Leonard's police station. She becomes the first femaleDetective Chief Superintendent just beforeThe Falls. In that novel, she tries to mentor DC Siobhan Clarke. She also plays Cupid to Rebus and Jean Burchill.
Assistant Chief Constable Colin Carswell is the chief officer with overall responsibility for crime in Lothian and Borders Police. He first appears inBlack and Blue (1997), nicknamed "The CC Rider". He reappears as ACC Colin Carswell inDead Souls (1999), but his description has changed. He continues in that role throughThe Falls (2001). He and Rebus disapprove of each other.
Detective Chief Superintendent Thomas Watson, nicknamed"The Farmer" is a senior detective, Rebus's superior, fromHide and Seek (1991) until the first chapter ofThe Falls (2001), where he retires. He also appears in some of the short stories inA Good Hanging. In most of these novels, he is charge of the CID based atSt Leonard's, Edinburgh police station. Occasionally we get a brief glimpse of his point of view on Rebus. Although he is exasperated by Rebus's tendency to ignore his requests and even orders, he appreciates that Rebus gets results.
Detective Chief Inspector Bill Pryde is the Chief Inspector at St Leonard's CID before its closure. He is introduced as a Detective Inspector and is promoted prior toResurrection Men.
Detective Chief Inspector James Macrae is the head of CID at Gayfield Square police station in Edinburgh when Rebus and Clarke are stationed there after the closure of St Leonard's, that is, inFleshmarket Close,The Naming of the Dead, andExit Music (2004-2007). He does not like or trust Rebus, not even giving him a desk in the CID room at first, and suspending him three days before retirement inExit Music. He has a favoured DI, Derek Starr, who does what he wants, but he also likes DS Clarke.
Detective Chief Inspector James Page is in charge of the Gayfield Square CID during the period of Rebus's retirement (starting withStanding in Another Man's Grave, 2012). Because the station was not designed with an office for the DCI, he has repurposed a closet as his office. At first, he and DI Siobhan Clarke seem to have some romantic history, but it is not mentioned in later novels. He is a well-organised, cheerful manager of the team, and loves the limelight and networking with his superiors, which disgusts Rebus. When Rebus serves as a DS at Gayfield Square inSaints of the Shadow Bible, DCI Page does not appreciate him and kicks him out of the station.
DCI Graham Sutherland first appears inIn a House of Lies in charge of the Major Incident Team; he includesDI Siobhan Clarke in his group. He is "early fifties maybe," lives in Glasgow, but has been stationed in various locations around the country. By the end of that book, the two are clearly good friends, and by the next book,A Song for the Dark Times, they are lovers; she recalls that he has asked her to move in with him, but she is doubtful. He is divorced but signs of his ex-wife linger at his home, and she doubts he has bothered to buy a new bed.
Chief Inspector Frank Lauderdale ("Fart" Lauderdale) is described as Rebus's senior officer so presumably a Detective Chief Inspector, and as a "bigot." He appears in the novels fromStrip Jack (1992) toLet it Bleed (1996), at the beginning of which he crashes the car in which he and Rebus are pursuing two young criminals; he survives but is badly hurt. He also appears in some of the stories inA Good Hanging. Rebus winds him up whenever he can and calls him "the Clockwork Orangeman" behind his back.[1] Once when Rebus replied "Right you are, sir" Lauderdale sat in a daze: "He'd said it! Rebus had actually ended a sentence with 'sir'!"[2]
Detective Inspector George Flight of the LondonMetropolitan Police is in charge of the serial killer case inTooth and Nail (1992). Rebus is sent to assist him and the two men become friends. Rebus consults him by phone in the next book,Strip Jack, where Flight remarks that Rebus persuaded him not to retire. He is also on a phone call with Rebus in the short story "Seeing Things" fromA Good Hanging and Other Stories (1992).
Detective Inspector Abernethy is a representative of theSpecial Branch (Metropolitan Police). He involves himself in two of Rebus's cases. InMortal Causes (1994) he is interested in the relationships between Irish and Scottish paramilitary groups, and gun-running. InThe Hanging Garden (1998) he tells Rebus that it is not in the national interest for Rebus to succeed in his efforts to persuade Mr. Lintz to talk about his activities as a Nazi.
Detective Inspector Alister Flower is based atSt Leonard's, Edinburgh police station in three novels, starting withThe Black Book (1993). He hates Rebus, his fellow DI, because he sees him as competition. InLet it Bleed (1995), Rebus has been offered a promotion to DCI, but inGalashiels, by higher-ups who want him out of Edinburgh. After Rebus has caught Flower in several nasty activities, Flower helps Rebus in exchange for the promotion.
Detective Inspector Claverhouse is a Detective Sergeant, then Detective Inspector, based at the Lothian and Borders Police headquarters at Fettes as part of the Scottish Crime Squad. He works in partnership with DC/DS Ormiston and is nicknamed"Bloody Claverhouse". He is tall and thin with sandy hair, and fond of country and western music. He and Ormiston first appear inMortal Causes (1994), and again inThe Hanging Garden (1998) andResurrection Men (2002), at which point the Crime Squad is evolving intoScottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.
Detective Inspector "Shug" Davidson is a police officer based at Torphichen Place (West End) police station in Edinburgh. He appears inLet it Bleed (1996),Dead Souls (1999),Fleshmarket Close (2004), andExit Music (2007). He and Rebus respect each other and he is often helpful to Rebus.
Detective Inspector Bobby Hogan is a police officer based atLeith police station. He appears in most of the novels fromThe Hanging Garden (1998) toA Question of Blood (2003). He is an intelligent cop and he and Rebus enjoy working together.
Inspector Malcolm Fox is the main protagonist in the Inspector Malcolm Fox series,The Complaints (2009) andThe Impossible Dead (2011), where he is an Inspector with the Lothian and Borders Complaints and Conduct (or Professional Standards) Department. In the Rebus series, starting withSaints of the Shadow Bible, (2014), he is an important point-of-view character. He is described as a bear of a man; despite this imposing physicality, his early stint in CID (including time working with John Rebus) was not a success. His brief marriage ended in divorce, after which he decided to stop drinking completely. He pays to keep his father in a nursing home until, inEven Dogs in the Wild, the old man dies; he also does his best to support his sister Jude, who is an alcoholic, a gambling addict, and full of spite.
InStanding in Another Man's Grave (2013) he is a distant antagonist, suspicious of John Rebus. However, inSaints of the Shadow Bible he needs Rebus's help on an investigation, and they develop a rapport; he also meets and admires Siobhan Clarke, and the three of them become a kind of team. InRather Be the Devil (2016) and subsequent novels, he has been transferred to the Scottish Crime Campus atGartcosh, but he is given assignments in Edinburgh when the Gartcosh chiefs need to be involved in a case, and then he rejoins Rebus and Clarke on their investigations. He gradually gains confidence in the field as well as in rooms full of case files. InA Song for the Dark Times, he and'Big Ger' Cafferty manipulate each other in the way Cafferty and Rebus often do.
He and Clarke establish a platonic relationship inEven Dogs in the Wild but it is spoiled when he is promoted to Gartcosh instead of her (and also when he allows her to be investigated for a leak to the media for which he is himself responsible). He also has a brief fling with DS Tess Leighton, betweenIn a House of Lies andA Song for the Dark Times.
He also appears (based in Gartcosh) inA Heart Full of Headstones.
InMidnight and Blue, Fox resigned due to the 'utter fucking fannies' in the police hierarchy.
Detective Inspector Derek Linford is a police officer based at the Lothian and Borders Police headquarters at Fettes. He appears inSet in Darkness,The Falls, andResurrection Men (2000-2002), though he has a significant role only in the first of these. He is ambitious and sure of his own moral high ground, qualities which do not endear him to Rebus. He takes Siobhan Clarke out on a date, but when she is no longer interested he spies on her. He is an acolyte of ACC Colin Carswell.
Detective Inspector Jack Morton is a police officer who appearsKnots and Crosses, the first Rebus novel (1987), as a friend of Rebus; they are both Detective Sergeants, and have to do a lot of legwork together. Rebus re-establishes their friendship duringBlack and Blue (1997( when he meets him during an investigation. Morton helps him give up alcohol and paint his apartment. Afterward, though Morton returns to Falkirk, he acts as sponsor for Rebus, talking him through his temptations to drink. Rebus invites him onto an undercover operation inThe Hanging Garden (1998) in which Morton is shot in the chest and killed. He becomes one of the "ghosts" Rebus drinks to forget.
Detective Inspector Stefan Gilmour appears inSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013) and the related short story, "Dead and Buried." He was in charge of a CID team at Summerhall police station in the early to mid-80s, when Rebus was posted there as a Detective Constable. When the violence and corruption of the Summerhall team was close to exposure, he resigned his post to shut down the inquiry. InSaints he has become a prominent builder of hotels and a proponent of the "No" vote in the2014 Scottish independence referendum.
Detective Sergeant Brian Holmes is a police officer who is a trusted, though often mystified, subordinate of Rebus in the early novels and short stories. His point of view on Rebus is sometimes presented. He first appears in the novelHide and Seek (1991) as a DC with a girlfriend, Nell Stapleton, who is a librarian at theUniversity of Edinburgh. He is Rebus's friend and closest associate inStrip Jack (1992) throughBlack and Blue (1997), as well as in many of the short stories published during these years. He is torn by the choice between Rebus's obsessive style of policing and the more domestic life Nell wants. Finally he chooses to leave the police. To some extent his function as Rebus's sounding-board is replaced by Siobhan Clarke.
Detective Sergeant Ormiston is a police officer based at the Lothian and Borders Police headquarters at Fettes as part of the Scottish Crime Squad. He works in partnership with DI Claverhouse. He has greasy black hair.
Detective Sergeant Eric Bain ("Brains") is a police officer and computer expert based at the Lothian and Borders Police headquarters at Fettes, who appears in three novels. He provides tech support to Siobhan Clarke duringThe Falls (2001) and inResurrection Men (2002) they have what seems to be a good friendship, visiting each other and sharing their interests. However, when Eric wants to take this into romantic territory, Siobhan withdraws. InThe Naming of the Dead Eric turns up again, living with the gorgeous Molly; both characters twist into the plot.
Detective Sergeant Ellen Wylie is a police officer at Torphichen station. She first appears inSet in Darkness (2000) as part of a team from various Edinburgh police departments assigned to assess security at the as-yet-unbuilt Scottish Parliament. She and DC Grant Hood together work on assignments from Rebus; her point of view is occasionally included in the narrative. InThe Falls (2001) she has a crisis when DCI Templer appoints her as Press Liaison and she is not able to handle a difficult presentation; Rebus uses her on his case but she resents the whole situation. She is active inFleshmarket Close (2004), where Rebus is investigating a case in Torphichen territory. InThe Naming of the Dead (2006), she is again assisting Rebus; she is now living with her sister, who has escaped an abusive husband.
Detective Sergeant Tess Leighton is part of the Major Incident Team headed by Detective Chief Inspector Graham Sutherland inIn a House of Lies andA Song for the Dark Times. She is tall, slim, pale, intelligent, and interested in men. She andMalcolm Fox have a few dates. Her colleagues on this team in the two books includeDS George Gamble andDC Phil Yeats.
Detective Constable Robert Burns ("Rab") appears inThe Black Book (where he is a Detective Sergeant),Mortal Causes andLet it Bleed, always stationed at Torphichen (West End). He is a member of theFree Church of Scotland (the "Wee Frees") and preaches damnation onThe Mound on Sundays. InMortal Causes, he is a native of the Pilmuir housing estate and helps Rebus with his foray into this dangerous area, full of young thugs. In the other books, he is generally helpful.
Detective Constable Grant Hood is a police officer who was based at St Leonards. He is a big fan of new technology and gadgets. DuringThe Falls he is attracted to Siobhan Clarke, and attempts to kiss her. During the same novel he takes on a media liaison role, a position he takes up in a number of subsequent investigations.
Detective Constable George "Hi-Ho" Silvers is a police officer who was based at St Leonards. He is described as "coasting towards his pension."
Detective Sergeant Christine Esson is part of the Gayfield Square police station CID starting withSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013). She is a social media expert. Rebus thinks she looks like Audrey Hepburn (In a House of Lies, Chapter 25). She works with databases and, when cold cases necessitate it, archives, researching leads not only for DI Siobhan Clarke but also for Rebus, who may or may not have any official status at Gayfield. She was paired with another detective,Ronnie Ogilvie.
InMidnight and Blue she clashes with Rebus and Fox when investigating a prison murder. She now works with DI Jason Mulgrew.
Esson dislikes tea and coffee, preferring to drink hot water.
Police Constable Toni Jackson is a police officer who is based at St Leonards. She frequently encourages Siobhan Clarke to socialise with the other female officers.
Professor "Sandy" Gates is a forensic pathologist who appears frequently in the Rebus series between 1996 and 2006. He and Dr. Curt are the usual medical examiners who dissect the bodies of victims. In 2013'sSaints of the Shadow Bible (Chapter 13) we hear that he has been dead for some years.
Doctor Curt is a forensic pathologist and medical examiner who appears frequently in the Rebus series, beginning in 1992 withStrip Jack and ending withThe Naming of the Dead (2006). He is junior to the formidable Sandy Gates, although both men are eminent figures in their profession. His fearless sense of humour is a precision instrument.
Professor Deborah Quant is a forensic pathologist, medical examiner, and professor who appears in the Rebus novels starting withSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013). She also features, below, in the list of Rebus's personal relationships.
Haj Atwal is a scene of crime manager who first appeared inRather Be The Devil (2016). He is impatient with anyone who fails to follow protocol at his crime scenes.
Jim Stevens is a journalist hostile to Rebus. He first appears inKnots and Crosses (1987), where he is a strong point-of view character as he pursues a story about Rebus's spectacular corruption; when this thesis fails him, he moves to London. Rankin featured him in his 1988 spy novel,Watchman, a non-Rebus book. Stevens returns to the Rebus series in full force inDead Souls (1999), where he tries to write a book about a serial killer and becomes his subject's victim.
Professor Matthew Vanderhyde is a retired professor and, supposedly, warlock. He is blind, but has not always been so, and he is a font of Edinburgh history. Rebus meets him inHide and Seek (1991) when Rebus is investigating an apparently occult murder scene. He appears inThe Black Book, where he focuses Rebus on the Central Hotel fire five years earlier, and inMortal Causes, where he is a source of information about Sword and Shield, a pro-Scottish independence group of the past. InThe Hanging Garden he is in the background, and he is mentioned as being still alive inSet in Darkness (2000). InThe Falls (2001) there is mention of Victorian witchcraft and modern Wicca, but Rebus does not consult Vanderhyde, which suggests he has died.
Mairie Henderson first appears inThe Black Book (1993) as a "hungry" young newspaper reporter—not only for stories, but for food; Rebus frequently treats her to a meal. She gives him information from the newspaper's archives, and he gives her leads on cases he is working on. The relationship continues throughDead Souls (1999), where she refuses to help Rebus destroy the life of an ex-con. Mairie returns inThe Naming of the Dead (2006), having published a successful book on 'Big Ger' Cafferty, presenting him as a romantic figure, a reformed gangster; he, however, gets all the profits from the book. She helps Rebus investigate arms deals in that book. She is also mentioned inExit Music (2007).
Steve Holly is a scurrilous Glasgow-based reporter who appears inThe Falls (2001),A Question of Blood (2003), andFleshmarket Close (2004). His goal is to find the most sensational aspect of a story.
Laura Smith is the crime reporter forThe Scotsman, beginning inSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013). She is a friend of DI Siobhan Clarke.
As ofMidnight and Blue she has resigned from newspapers and become a podcaster. She clashes with Clarke when reporting on child abuse cases which Clarke had not wished to be publicly known.
Morris Gerald Cafferty ("Big Ger") is a notoriousEdinburghcrime boss and a frequent antagonist throughout the Rebus series. Although he has a brief cameo in the third novelTooth and Nail, he first appears as a main character inThe Black Book. Physically intimidating, as well as being ruthless andmanipulative, he is one of Scotland's most powerful gangsters. He controls an organisation that can apply intimidation, coercion, bribery, and murder to achieve his goals, but he is quite willing to wield these tools personally.
Cafferty was born on 18 October 1946 and by the 1980s he had become the controlling crime boss of Edinburgh. His relationship with Rebus ranges from outright hostility to an uneasy partnership. Cafferty habitually mocks Rebus by calling him 'Strawman', a nickname based on a court officer's error in calling Rebus to testify at a trial. The two men are about the same age and are sometimes described as looking like brothers, as they get older. As a result of their relationship, Rebus is often accused of being 'in Cafferty's pocket'.
At the end ofThe Black Book (1993), Rebus is able to arrest him on ample evidence. Cafferty is sent toHM Prison Barlinnie, whose warden falls under his control. InMortal Causes (1994), Cafferty's son is murdered; Cafferty, in prison, helps Rebus find the killer, and then breaks out (temporarily) to exact revenge. During Cafferty's incarceration, Rebus keeps returning to Cafferty for assistance, which Cafferty either provides, refuses, or disguises with misdirection, usually dropping an inadvertent clue or two. For example, he assigns the Weasel to help Rebus locate the driver who hit Rebus's daughter inThe Hanging Garden (1998). InSet in Darkness (2000), Cafferty engineers a curtailment of his prison term on compassionate grounds (he has faked having cancer), and Rebus is horrified to find him singing Robert Burns in public. Cafferty, however, suggests that he will henceforward be a respectable real-estate tycoon instead of a gangster.
In later novels, Cafferty is a near-permanent figure, claiming to have gone straight while retaining criminal control of Edinburgh from behind the scenes. He is often linked to cases that Rebus and Clarke are investigating, but there is never enough evidence to bring charges against him.
InExit Music (2007), an impending move to arrest, convict, and disempower Cafferty is forestalled when he is assaulted and hospitalised, comatose. On the final page, his heartflatlines and Rebus desperately tries to revive him, lest Cafferty have a 'cold, cleansed death'.[3] The book ends without revealing the results of Rebus's resuscitation attempt. In the next Rebus novel,Standing in Another Man's Grave (2012), we discover that Cafferty survived, though he seems somewhat subdued and stripped of power.
InRather Be the Devil (2016), however, Cafferty seizes control of a string of Edinburgh bars and betting-shops, and he continues to thrive inIn a House of Lies (2018). He also a leading character inA Song for the Dark Times (2020) and (in a wheelchair) inA Heart Full of Headstones (2022). InMidnight and Blue (2024), Big Ger is dead, as Rebus had tried to frighten him by putting a pillow over his head and was convicted of his manslaughter.
The Weasel is Cafferty's second in command, who represents him in Edinburgh while he is inHM Prison Barlinnie. Cafferty informs Rebus that the Weasel's surname is Jeffries. He gained the nickname from Rebus for looking like aweasel. His shabby appearance disguises his important role in Cafferty's organisation. InThe Hanging Garden, the Weasel finds the juvenile joyrider who knocked down Sammy Rebus, and is ready to facilitate Rebus's revenge on him; Rebus, however, is horrified when he realises his great enemy is only a child. InResurrection Men, Claverhouse and Ormiston plan to blackmail the Weasel into giving them Cafferty. This involves the Weasel's son, who had been running drugs behind Cafferty's back, and a huge stash of drugs meant to bait a trap. The plan goes badly awry, with Cafferty triumphing. The careers of Claverhouse and ACC Colin Carswell are devastated. Cafferty tells Rebus that the Weasel is history, implying that his intended betrayal was discovered and he was killed.
Darryl Christie is a young Edinburgh gangster who appears in the later Rebus novels. He is the teenage brother of a serial killer's victim inStanding in Another Man's Grave (2012), but he has a plan to take over the business of his mother's lover, a gangster. When he accomplishes this, he and Cafferty agree to respect each other. InSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013) he trades favours with Rebus, and inEven Dogs in the Wild (2014) he saves Fox's life. However, inRather be the Devil (2015) he has overextended his empire; Cafferty, wanting to get power back, engineers serious trouble for him. Darryl kills a man for the first time, in self-defence, and then madly wants to shoot Cafferty and a swindler colleague; Rebus arrests him, and Cafferty takes over his businesses.
As ofMidnight and Blue (2024), Christie is still in prison and trying to control his empire from behind bars, though he is being challenged by other gangsters.
Rhona is Rebus's ex-wife. When she married him, she was divorced. She teaches English in school. She appears primarily in three novels: she is part of Rebus's background in the first novel,Knots and Crosses (1987); inTooth and Nail (1992) Rebus visits her and Sammy in London; and inThe Hanging Garden (1998) she comes to Edinburgh to sit by Sammy's bedside after the latter's accident (bringing her current partner with her). InA Song for the Dark Times (2020), we read that "Rhona had died a few years back" (chapter 2), perhaps before her granddaughter Carrie was born.
InSet in Darkness (2000) Rebus recalls how strongly Rhona supported Scottish independence in the1979 Scottish devolution referendum, and he maps the failure of their relationship against the transition from arguing actively about it to silent provocation and finally his own failure to vote at all.
Samantha "Sammy" Rebus is the only child of Rebus and Rhona, born around 1975 (since she is "nearly twelve" in 1987'sKnots and Crosses). She progresses from a child to an adult over the course of the series. InKnots and Crosses she is kidnapped by a serial killer with a personal vendetta against her father. After this traumatic experience, Rhona moves with her to London, where Rebus catches up with them inTooth and Nail (1992) and discourages an ill-chosen boyfriend. InLet it Bleed (1996), Samantha moves back to Edinburgh and is under the wing of Patience Aitkin, her father's ex; she is working for a group that helps prisoners, a career choice that is hostile to her father's. At the end of this novel, she and her father show some tenderness for each other.
InThe Hanging Garden (1998), she is living with a journalist, Ned Farlowe, but she is hospitalised after a hit-and-run, and in a coma for most of the book, reuniting her parents, Patience, and Michael Rebus at her bedside. InDead Souls (1999) she is in a wheelchair but working hard at physical therapy in the expectation of being able to walk; she is still living with Ned Farlowe.
Otherwise, until Rebus's retirement in 2007, she remains a shadowy figure, someone now distant he thinks he ought to call. InStanding in Another Man's Grave (2012) Rebus makes the effort to visit her home nearTongue, Highland, but no-one is home; when he phones her afterward, she explains that her partner Keith Grant has a good job dismantling a nuclear plant and that they are trying for a second time to conceive via IVF. This is evidently successful, and inEven Dogs in the Wild (2015) Rebus visits her and her daughter Carrie, who is two; he also recalls holding a newborn Carrie. InA Song for the Dark Times (2020), Samantha is distraught when Keith goes missing; Rebus arrives to investigate what turns out to be a murder in which Sam is the obvious suspect.
Carrie is the granddaughter of John Rebus, born around 2013 to Samantha and Keith Grant who was murdered; seeA Song for the Dark Times (2020). Carrie was conceived by IVF -a final throw of the dice. She is growing up in a small town in the far north of Scotland.
Michael Rebus ("Mickey") is John's younger brother, who followed their father's career as a stage hypnotist. Although he and John look alike, their personalities are very different. Michael has a faithful wife (Chrissie), children, and a nice car. He is an important character inKnots and Crosses (1987), where he is picking up money dealing drugs and eventually goes to prison for it; he also hypnotises John, allowing him to access traumatic memories of his SAS "training" to solve a case and also to resolve his undiagnosedPTSD. InThe Black Book (1993) Michael turns up after doing his prison time and crashes at John's apartment, even though it has been rented to students. Although he seems carefree, doing drugs and sleeping with one of the students, he is reading up on therapeutic hypnosis and seems ready to make a career change; at the end of the book, he is going back to his family. Michael shows up at Samantha's bedside inThe Hanging Garden (1998), and he is often mentioned in succeeding books as someone Rebus thinks he should get in touch with.The Naming of the Dead (2006) opens with his funeral, and Rebus's difficulty in mourning his brother is an underlying current in that novel.
Doctor Patience Aitken, a general practitioner, is a romantic partner for Rebus beginning withStrip Jack (1992). He decides to move in with her and rent out his own apartment, but inThe Black Book (1993) she is fed up with his inability to schedule any time for her, and she kicks him out. InMortal Causes (1994) he is back living at her flat. In the following novel,Let it Bleed (1995), Rebus's daughter Samantha is the one living with Patience, and he must be invited to visit them; neither woman is comfortable with him. He shuts Patience's cat, with which he has always had an uneasy relationship, out of the house, where it is attacked and killed.
Jean Burchill, a museum curator, meets Rebus inThe Falls (2001), where she assists him with his investigation and is imperiled by it. They immediately hit it off and start a relationship. By the time of the next novel,Resurrection Men, Rebus is struggling to maintain the relationship, and in the subsequent novelA Question of Blood (2003), the romance is close to ending. However, when Deborah Quant first meets Rebus inSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013), she pointedly asks him whether he still visits the museum where Jean works.
Deborah Quant, a medical examiner and university professor, first appears inSaints of the Shadow Bible (2013), where she is described from Rebus's point of view as having red hair and blue eyes and being in her mid-forties, but with no wedding ring (chapter 22). They flirt a little, and by the last page of the novel Rebus has a date with her. They are known to be going out duringEven Dogs in the Wild.Rather Be the Devil opens and closes with Rebus and Quant having dinner out; she has given him the gift of a diseased lung in a jar of formaldehyde to help him stop smoking. In the Prologue toA Song for the Dark Times (2020) she defines the relationship as "friends with benefits." See above under "Police Associates".
InEven Dogs in the Wild there is a small dog, a wire-haired terrier, astray in Cafferty's neighborhood. After several visits there, Rebus takes the dog home and, finding that no-one else wants a dog, adopts it. During its time boarding with a vet it acquired the name Brillo.
Father Conor Leary is an elderly, intellectualCatholic priest and a friend of Rebus. They meet inThe Black Book (1993) when Rebus, on impulse, enters a confessional; he later goes to Mass hoping to see the priest who had spoken to him. InMortal Causes (1994) it is clear that they have had many conversations over a Guinness, and Leary asks Rebus to pay attention to the Catholic youth center in Pilmuir, propelling him into a major plot thread. InThe Hanging Garden (1998) Father Leary is taking a lot of medicine, and inDead Souls (1999) Rebus visits him in the hospital. InThe Falls (2001) Conor Leary suffers a brain haemorrhage while attending a surgeons' dinner and dies instantly, falling over a railing.