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Characters
John Rebus
Rebus is a professional misanthrope made more cynical by the job he does. A flawed, pessimistic, multi-layered character, he delights in flouting authority; he smokes and drinks; he doesn’t play by the rules.
Full Profile“Big Ger” Cafferty
The gangster who runs Edinburgh, and Rebus’s chief adversary, Cafferty runs a criminal organisation that uses intimidation, bribery and murder to deliver what he wants.
Full ProfileMalcom Fox
Complaints Officer Fox is hardworking and pernickety; a team player, not cynical like Rebus, and not a drinker. Long teetotal, he is an interesting character who is somewhat repressed
Full ProfileSiobhan Clarke
Siobhan plays by the rules; she’s young and ambitious and she embraces the new techniques of policing. She is the perfect foil to Rebus, and the two develop a grudging respect and friendship.
Full Profile
Creating Rebus
For more than twenty years novelist Ian Rankin has entertained and gripped us with stories of the maverick Detective Inspector Rebus, whose daily grind involves tackling Edinburgh’s grim underbelly. For Rebus, the city is just ‘a crime scene waiting to happen’.
How did Edinburgh inspire such dark stories?
