Christopher Brookmyre

Christopher Brookmyre (born 6 September 1968) is a Scottish novelist whose novels, generally in a crime or police procedural frame, mix comedy, politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. His debut novel was Quite Ugly One Morning; subsequent works have included All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye (2005), Black Widow (2016) and Bedlam (2013), which was written in parallel with the development of a first-person shooter videogame, also called Bedlam. He also writes historical fiction with his wife, Dr Marisa Haetzman, under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry.

Biography

Brookmyre was born in Glasgow and raised and schooled in Barrhead, attending St. Mark's Primary School and St Luke's High School, before attending the University of Glasgow.

Brookmyre is married to Dr. Marisa Haetzman, an anaesthetist, with whom he has a son, and supports St Mirren F.C., references to Scottish football ('fitba') frequently featuring in his books. Brookmyre is a member of the Fun Lovin' Crime Writers, a cover band also comprising crime novelists Mark Billingham, Doug Johnstone, Val McDermid, Stuart Neville and Luca Veste. Between April 2008 and December 2015, he was the President of Humanist Society Scotland.

In August 2025, Chris Brookmyre and his wife, Dr. Marisa Haetzman, were guests on the Off the Shelf podcast as part of a feature on the McIlvanney Prize for which Ambrose Parry was longlisted.

Novels

Jack Parlabane

Nine of Brookmyre's novels (Quite Ugly One Morning, Country of the Blind, Boiling a Frog, Be My Enemy, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, Dead Girl Walking, Black Widow, Want You Gone and Quite Ugly One Evening) centre on the investigative journalist Jack Parlabane. Parlabane also stars in the short stories Bampot Central, Place B. and The Last Day of Christmas with the latter serving as a short prelude to Dead Girl Walking. Parlabane also appears in Fallen Angel.

Angelique de Xavia

Three of Brookmyre's novels feature the character of counterterrorism officer Angelique de Xavia: A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, The Sacred Art of Stealing, and A Snowball in Hell. A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away and A Snowball in Hell pit Xavia against international terrorist-for-hire Simon Darcourt. A Snowball in Hell was originally due to be titled The Great Grease-Tailed Shaven Pig Hunt.

Jasmine Sharp and Catherine McLeod

Three of Brookmyre's novels feature the characters Jasmine Sharp, a private detective, and Catherine McLeod, a senior police detective: Where the Bodies Are Buried, When the Devil Drives, and Flesh Wounds. McLeod also features in the short story Siege Mentality, and The Last Siege of Bothwell Castle, and has minor roles in Dead Girl Walking and Black Widow, and a minor reference in Fallen Angel.

Bedlam

Bedlam was released in 2013. The book has been turned into a video game, also written by Brookmyre.

As Ambrose Parry

In 2018, Brookmyre wrote The Way of All Flesh with his wife, Dr. Marisa Haetzman. It was published under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry. The team followed up with The Art of Dying in 2019, A Corruption of Blood in 2021, Voices of the Dead in 2023, and The Death of Shame in 2025.

Recurring characters

With the possible exceptions of Pandaemonium, Bedlam and The Cracked Mirror, Brookmyre's books are all set in the same "universe" and contain a number of recurring characters, especially the appearance or mention of 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, and 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 Ducks as Sarah Slaughter's lawyer.

Angelique de Xavia, the diminutive but deadly police officer from A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, The Sacred Art of Stealing and A Snowball in Hell.