This is a list of characters from the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Ian Rankin. They are all fictional characters that have appeared in more than one novel in the series. A number of the characters appeared in the television adaptations made for ITV.
Police
Detective Inspector John Rebus
Detective Inspector John Rebus is the protagonist in the Inspector Rebus series. He was born in 1947 in Fife and left school at the age of fifteen to join the Army. After serving in Northern Ireland he applied to undergo selection for the SAS, but after a horrendous ordeal in training, left the army and joined Lothian and Borders Police.
He is initially introduced as a Detective Sergeant, and is promoted to Detective Inspector early in the series.
Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke Detective Sergeant Siobhan "Shiv" Clarke is Rebus's trusted friend and partner. Her given name is represented in IPA /ʃɨˈvɔːn/. In the 2000 television series, Clarke was first played by Gayanne Potter and then by Claire Price. In the 2024 reboot, she is played by Lucie Shorthouse.
Clarke hails from a middle-class English family (her parents are politically active on the left) and is much younger than Rebus. She has a university degree and is a devoted follower of Hibernian F.C. 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. At the same time, she is Rebus' foil; in contrast to his hands-on approach to policing, Clarke strictly follows procedure.
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 in The Black Book (1993) as a newly promoted Detective Constable. She remains a useful sidekick of Rebus until Set 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 of Resurrection Men (2002) and to Detective Inspector after Exit 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 pseudo "team". In Saints of the Shadow Bible (2013), Rebus rejoins the police as a DS and she is his superior. In A 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 in The 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, in Resurrection 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 Detective Chief Superintendent Gill Templer is a regular character in Rebus series up through A Question of Blood (2003). She first appears in Knots 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 in Strip Jack (1992). Templer is ambitious and networks with other women who are pushing the boundaries in their professions. She is promoted to Detective Chief Inspector in Let it Bleed and thus becomes Rebus's boss at St. Leonard's police station. She becomes the first female Detective Chief Superintendent just before The 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 Assistant Chief Constable Colin Carswell is the chief officer with overall responsibility for crime in Lothian and Borders Police. He first appears in Black and Blue (1997), nicknamed "The CC Rider". He reappears as ACC Colin Carswell in Dead Souls (1999), but his description has changed. He continues in that role through The Falls (2001). He and Rebus disapprove of each other.
Detective Chief Superintendent Thomas "Farmer" Watson Detective Chief Superintendent Thomas Watson, nicknamed "The Farmer" is a senior detective, Rebus's superior, from Hide and Seek (1991) until the first chapter of The Falls (2001), where he retires. He also appears in some of the short stories in A Good Hanging. In most of these novels, he is charge of the CID based at St 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 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 to Resurrection Men.
Detective Chief Inspector James Macrae 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, in Fleshmarket Close, The Naming of the Dead, and Exit 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 in Exit Music. He has a favoured DI, Derek Starr, who does what he wants, but he also likes DS Clarke.
Detective Chief Inspector James Page Detective Chief Inspector James Page is in charge of the Gayfield Square CID during the period of Rebus's retirement (starting with Standing 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 in Saints of the Shadow Bible, DCI Page does not appreciate him and kicks him out of the station.
Detective Chief Inspector Graham Sutherland DCI Graham Sutherland first appears in In a House of Lies in charge of the Major Incident Team; he includes DI 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 Lauderdale 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 from Strip Jack (1992) to Let 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 in A Good Hanging. Rebus winds him up whenever he can and calls him "the Clockwork Orangeman" behind his back.Concrete Evidence, Auld Lang Syne (short stories) 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'!" Monstrous Trumpet (short story)
Detective Inspector George Flight Detective Inspector George Flight of the London Metropolitan Police is in charge of the serial killer case in Tooth 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" from A Good Hanging and Other Stories (1992).
Detective Inspector Abernethy Detective Inspector Abernethy is a representative of the Special Branch (Metropolitan Police). He involves himself in two of Rebus's cases. In Mortal Causes (1994) he is interested in the relationships between Irish and Scottish paramilitary groups, and gun-running. In The 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 Detective Inspector Alister Flower is based at St Leonard's, Edinburgh police station in three novels, starting with The Black Book (1993). He hates Rebus, his fellow DI, because he sees him as competition. In Let it Bleed (1995), Rebus has been offered a promotion to DCI, but in Galashiels, 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 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 in Mortal Causes (1994), and again in The Hanging Garden (1998) and Resurrection Men (2002), at which point the Crime Squad is evolving into Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.
Detective Inspector "Shug" Davidson Detective Inspector "Shug" Davidson is a police officer based at Torphichen Place (West End) police station in Edinburgh. He appears in Let it Bleed (1996), Dead Souls (1999), Fleshmarket Close (2004), and Exit Music (2007). He and Rebus respect each other and he is often helpful to Rebus.
Detective Inspector Bobby Hogan Detective Inspector Bobby Hogan is a police officer based at Leith police station. He appears in most of the novels from The Hanging Garden (1998) to A Question of Blood (2003). He is an intelligent cop and he and Rebus enjoy working together.
Inspector Malcolm Fox Inspector Malcolm Fox is the main protagonist in the Inspector Malcolm Fox series, The Complaints (2009) and The 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 with Saints 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, in Even 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.