Inspector Rebus span a broad spectrum of Scotland, including council estates, tenements, business districts, nightclubs, prisons, dying mining towns, secluded villages and desolate hillsides, as well as the better-known pubs and streets of Edinburgh. Some of these locations are fictional, although they may be based on real places. For example, the Pilmuir estate is a conflation of the two real Edinburgh locations Pilton and Muirhouse. Other locations, such as the Oxford Bar, Arden Street, and St Leonards police station, are real. Frequent references to real places, or local politics firmly ground the Rebus series in the real world. Another strong feature of
John Rebus Siobhan Clarke. His longest relationship has been with Patience Aitken which spanned several novels. Either his relationships are improper and unsuitable – with women personally linked to the cases Rebus is working on, or else they find that Rebus is 'married' to his job, and cannot be fully committed to a relationship. In an "Independent on Sunday" interview Rankin said that he drew "some of his inspiration" for the character from the “sixth Stone”, Ian Stewart. Three of the Inspector Rebus novels are named after Stones albums: "Black and Blue", "Let It Bleed" and "Beggars Banquet". In a 2007 interview