major characters (such as Parlabane) in incidental roles in other stories. Some of the recurring characters are listed below: Jack Parlabane, an investigative journalist with an attitude towards the laws covering trespass and burglary best described as flexible. Parlabane was the protagonist of Brookmyre's debut Quite Ugly One Morning and is, to date, the most frequently appearing character. He also appears in Country of the Blind, Boiling a Frog, Be My Enemy, The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, Dead Girl Walking, Black Widow, Want You Gone ' as a major character, and is referenced in Not the End of the World and Fallen Angel. Sarah Slaughter, anaesthetist and ex-wife of the murder victim in Quite Ugly One Morning. She and Jack are later married after Country of the Blind, and have separated by the time of Dead Girl Walking. Jenny Dalziel is an Edinburgh CID officer, part of Hector McGregor's team as a DC in Quite Ugly One Morning, who becomes a close friend of Parlabane and appears or is referenced in most of his books. She is openly gay and in a relationship with a woman called Maggie who has survived breast cancer by the time of Dead Girl Walking. CID Officers Catherine McLeod, Anthony "Beano" Thompson and Laura Geddes appear in the three "Jasmine Sharp" novels and also play minor roles in Dead Girl Walking. This provides the first strong link between the "Sharp" and "Parlabane" story arcs. (However, note that whereas Beano is a DC - Detective Constable - in the "Jasmine Sharp" novels, he is described in Dead Girl Walking as a DI - Detective Inspector - in three locations, and never as a DC. Catherine McLeod is a Detective Superintendent in both environments.) Catherine McLeod is also mentioned in a closing chapter of Fallen Angel, as investigating the death of a character. Jenny Dalziel and Catherine McLeod are mentioned in the same breath in Want You Gone. Nicole Carrow is a junior solicitor in an Edinburgh law firm in Country of the Blind, and is Thomas 'Tam' McInnes' lawyer. In the same book she becomes mixed up in governmental actions against McInnes and his associates, and is rescued by Jack Parlabane, Sarah Slaughter and Jenny Dalziel. She is also mentioned in Boiling a Frog as being Jack Parlabane's lawyer, but does not actually appear. She is also mentioned in Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber