History Characters / LincolnRhyme

[[folder:Ercole Benelli]]
!! Officer Ercole Benelli
An Italian forrestry officer who witnesses the second kidnapping of the Composer and becomes attached to the case.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: He's a forestry officer who dresses the part and carries saws in his trunk but he is an alert and conscious officer with a good head for theory and the only one of the officers who is first on the scene to have read the Interpol alerts about The Composer.
* FarmBoy: A rural officer eager to prove his worth and rise onto better things.
* NativeGuide: He's the local assigned to lease with Rhyme and Sachs and show them around.
* ThatOneCase: Played slightly for laughs in his feud with a dealer of counterfeit truffles.

[[folder:Dante Spiro]]
!! Dante Spiro
An Italian prosecutor who commands the investigation into The Composer once he reaches Italy and buts heads with Rhyme.

* BadassBureaucrat: Prior to the novel some organized crime figures he'd arrest sent two hitmen to kill him. Spiro overpowered one physically and shot the other with his own gun.
* GoodIsNotNice: TO quote a lawyer involved in another caseRhyme gets involved in describes him as this:
--> ''Lawyer" The prosecutor is handling the case against Garry is a brilliant man, it's not disputed, but he can be difficult and vindictive and he is cold as ice.
--> '''Rhyme:''' [[OhCrap I his name, by any chance, Dante Spiro?]]
--> '''Lawyer:''' ''Santo Cielo!'' How did you know?
* JurisdictionFriction: He and Rhyme spend a long time debating about whether or not Spiro will get to try the case in Italy once an arrest is made.
* MeanBoss: He's constantly shooting down Ercole's ideas and insulting him, [[spoiler:At least until the end]].
* MostWritersAreWriters: He turns out tone a big western fan who writes stories of his own.
* {{Pride}}: He could die Rhyme a run for his money there. Spiro resents his ideas being openly questioned. He also only allows Rhyme and Sachs on the case due to some reporters praising him for being a big enough man to ask for help form the people most qualified and feeling he would lose face to go back on that.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: At the end of the day he is a shrewd and ultimately reasonable man.
* ShipperOnDeck: Ultimately turns into one for Ercole and his love interest.
* TroubledSympatheticBigot: He has a dep grudge against Americans due to his grandfather being an Allied soldier who was mistaken for an Axis one by Americans and put into a prison amp with Nazi soldiers who saw him and his unit as traitors and tortured them to death while the guards stood and watched. The fact that the Americans responsible for the mistake refused to apologize didn't help. The lingering stress of this incident hurt his mother's mental health, and Spiro himself admits that while he knows his resentment for Americans isn't entirely rational he has a hard time getting over it.

[[folder:Massimo Rossi]]
!!Massimo Rossi
The inspector working with Spiro on the Composer Case.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Initially presented as a reasonable, intelligent man who sees something in Ercole, it is shown at the end that, [[spoiler:He is a members of an Italian Alt-Right political group and has been sabotaging the case due to his own hatred of illegal immigrants, while setting Ercole up as TheScapegoat for the failure. Ercole, Rhyme Sach and even people who have know Rossi longer -such as his own, genuinely pleasant and highly competent NumberTwo Silvio, are completely taken in]].
* LivingLegend: He holds a great deal of respect among the Italian police community for his long string of big arrests.
* PermaStubble: Described as having a permeant stubble on his face.
* TooManyBabies: He and his wife have five children who apparently take up a lot of their time.

[[folder:Beatrice Renza]
!!Beatrice Renza
The forensic investigator on Rossi's team.

* MessyHair: Its described as thick and wavy.
* PerpetualFrowner: Frowning may be too strong of a word but she rarely smiles due to her focus on the job.
* ShipperOnDeck: Lets Ercole know that her attractive friend and colleague Daniela is single (albeit with a faint warning), although it ultimately turns out Ercole doesn't like Daniela, but rather Beatrice herself.

[[folder:Charlotte McKenzie]]
!!Charlotte [=McKenzie=}
An embassy worker who requests Rhyme spend time on another case in his hunt for The Composer.

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[sppoiler:She's really an intelligence agent using The cover of the Composer to investigates terrorists, but quickly turns out to be an UnwittingPawn after ''that'' reveal]].
* TheHandler:[[spoiler:To Stefan]].

[[folder:Edward Ackroyd]]
!! Edward Ackroyd AKA [[spoiler:Andrew Krueger]]
A gym company insurance appraiser who is consulted about several murders in a diamond shop in ''The Cutting Edge'' and brought onto the case as a consultant.

[[folder:Edward Ackroyd]]
!! Edward Ackroyd AKA [[spoiler:Andrew Krueger]]
A gym company insurance appraiser who is consulted about several murders in a diamond shop in ''The Cutting Edge'' and brought onto the case as a consultant.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: A few cases see Rhyme deliberately push people to get a genuine reaction out of them rather than let them just try and be 'nice' to him because of his condition, such as provoking his temporary assistant in ''Empty Chair'' to yell at him or musing that he liked the team's temporary magic consultant Kala (''The Vanished Man'') because she immediately speculated that he'd make a great illusionist because people wouldn't expect anything of him.

* AffectionatePickpocket: She's good at swiping thighs form Amelia or moving them around even when the detectives are on the watch and does this to demonstrate magicians misdirection.
* TheCameo: Briefly is consulted again in ''The Cold Moon''.

* StageNames: Kara is a stage name and her real one is never revealed.

* StagNames: Kara is a stage name and her real one is never revealed.

!!Notable Antagonists

[[folder:The Watchmaker]]
!!The Watchmaker, aka Gerald Duncan, aka Richard Logan, aka [[spoiler: Charles Vespasian Hale]]

A ProfessionalKiller who uses rigid timing and numerous distractions to accomplish his goals. The first killer to outsmart Rhyme and get away scot-free in ''The Cold Moon'', he has become Rhyme's [[ArchEnemy worst nemesis]].

* ArousedByTheVoice: Anything that arouses him is based in audio.

* SerialKillingsSpecificTargets: Rhyme eventually notices how 3 out of his 4 victims were Libyan immigrants, and it does indeed turn out that they aren't being picked at random.

[[folder:Mason Germain]]
!!Mason Germain

A rough, rude cop on Jim Bell's force. During the manhunt for Garret, he is dead set on killing the kid for reasons unknown.

* AntiHero: [[spoiler: He wants Garret dead because he genuinely believes that the boy is a remorseless murderer, not because he is involved in Bell's conspiracy.]]
* CowboyCop: He goes into both manhunts looking to shoot Garret dead.
* DirtyCop: Painted as one. [[spoiler: Isn't actually one.]]
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler: Despite being set up as a DirtyCop, his vendetta against Garret is for completely unrelated reasons to the conspiracy, which he is instrumental in exposing to Rhyme and the FBI.]]
* RedHerring: [[spoiler: He has nothing to do with the pesticide conspiracy and the cover-up that resulted in Garret's family's deaths.]]

[[folder:Rich Culbeau]]
!!Rich Culbeau

A local GunNut in Garret Haldon's town. When Garret escapes custody with Amelia, Rich and his friends secretly dog behind the police, ready to shoot the boy dead on sight and claim the bounty on his head.

[[folder:Sonny Li]]
!!Sonny Li

A Chinese police detective who stowed away aboard the Ghost's ship in the guise of a passenger in order to capture him. After the boat's destruction, he ends up joining Rhyme's investigative team, though he has wildly different methods to Rhyme.

[[folder:Charles Grady]]
!!Charles Grady

A New York lawyer who becomes high-profile while prosecuting a man associated with Jeddy Barnes's [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic militia group]]. It soon becomes apparent that Barnes has sent no less than three killers to assassinate him and cause a mistrial: a blackmailed priest, Hobbs Wentworth, and finally [[spoiler: the Conjurer himself, who organized the plan and the approaches of the latter two.]]

* ButtMonkey: Over the course of the novel, [[spoiler: he is almost shot in his car, almost sniped by Hobbs Wentworth, receives numerous death threats that almost destroy his life, has his apartment breached by the Conjurer with his family nearby, and is led to believe that his young daughter ate poisoned chocolate that was meant to kill him.]] All for trying to do his job.

[[folder:Jeddy Barnes]]
!!Jeddy Barnes

The leader of a racist, nationalist [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic right-wing milita]] in ''The Vanished Man''. He is plotting to kill Charles Grady in order to cause a mistrial that lets an associate of his militia go free. To this end, [[spoiler: he hired the Conjurer, who made a complex assassination plan with him involving two other decoy killers and multiple fake-outs.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: He receives no clear punishment for masterminding the plot to kill Charles Grady.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Appears to be this for the Conjurer, but even he is being deceived.]]
* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: The leader of a large group in New York state.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Despite never appearing in person, he is the one masterminding the various plots to kill Charles Grady [[spoiler: and the Conjurer's pivotal FallGuy.]]

[[folder:Hobbs Wentworth]]
!!Hobbs Wentworth

Jeddy Barnes's dedicated enforcer, responsible for a number of slayings over the years. In ''The Vanished Man'', he is assigned to [[spoiler: take out Charles Grady if the Conjurer fails to]].

* BeardOfEvil: Has a thick beard and is part of a racist, murderous [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic milita]].
* ColdSniper: In his final scene.
* TheDragon: To Jeddy Barnes.
* FauxAffablyEvil: An unrepentant killer who entertains children with Sunday schools stories (that he makes up and that make Jesus into a more militant figure) and is always making notes whenever he thinks up a new one.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: The instant he tries to shoot Charles Grady, his own bullets ricochet and kill him.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: He may look and act like a DeepSouth meathead, but he has an extensive knowledge of weaponry and has gotten away with multiple murders.
* SelfDisposingVillain: [[spoiler: His burst fire ricochets off the reinforced glass window, tearing him apart.]]

[[folder:William Ashberry, Jr.]]
!!William Ashberry, Jr.

President of the Hiram Sanford Foundation in ''The Twelfth Card''.

* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: He hired Boyd to kill a girl who stumbled on to evidence that her ancestor was framed for a robbery by [[GreaterScopeVillain Sanford]] so he could take the land and built a bank on it.]]
* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler: Has a brief MyGodWhatHaveIDone? Moment after meeting Geneva in person but quickly shrugs it off after reminding himself how much privilege and luxury he stands to lose if she succeeds in her goal]].

[[folder:Vincent Reynolds]]
!!Vincent Reynolds

An obese serial rapist whom the Watchmaker contacts and uses as his helper during ''The Cold Moon''.

* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler: As a teenager, he tied up and brutally raped his sister Sally-Anne over the course of several days. She has barely recovered in adulthood, and he still obsessively fixates on her as his one true love.]]
* FatBastard: An obese, delusional serial rapist.
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: He is tricked into trying to assault Kathryn Dance and arrested.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Despite his childlike characteristics, he has managed to remain out of the view of police for years.
* OffStageVillainy: [[spoiler: Never actually rapes anyone over the course of the novel, just in the backstory, with The watchmaker deliberately making sure that Vincent fails to rape anyone so that the police will have nothing to hold him on the first time they catch up with him]].
* PsychopathicManchild: One of the clearest examples in the series. Despite being involved in monstrous crimes, his inner narration and worldview resembles that of an actual child.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: In a book that features a ring of murderous [[DirtyCop Dirty Cops]] and introduces the remorseless ProfessionalKiller who becomes Rhyme's ArchEnemy, Vincent is still the most despicable character around.
* SweetTooth: Vincent frequently chows down on chocolate and other candies to stave off [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil his real hunger]].

[[folder:Alicia Morgan]]
!!Alicia Morgan

Vernon Griffith's girlfriend, a damaged and formerly abused woman who bends to his every whim.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: The traumatized woman is really a domineering manipulator willing to callously end multiple innocent lives to get her revenge, and after getting what she wants, she has already prepared to kill the vulnerable, damaged man she was exploiting to commit the murders. All of the affection she showed him and the interest she had in his hobby are fake.]]
* DomesticAbuse: She is covered in scars and burns, and even had a bone in her arm twisted out, all thanks to her late husband. [[spoiler: In reality, most of these injures were due to the car accident, while her husband accidentally broke her arm trying to pull her from the wreckage.]]
* ExtremeDoormat: Her experience with abuse has left her so afraid to question or offend Vernon that she clams up even suggesting a meal. [[spoiler: She is indeed doing this to avoid putting Vernon off, but it's to maintain their deal, not because she is afraid of him. Vernon is actually putty in her hands.]]
* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: A defect in her car led it to malfunction and becoming a flaming wreck, horribly injuring her and killing her husband, and she was not properly recompensed in court due to being forced to settle.]]
* HoneyTrap: [[spoiler: She took advantage of Vernon after learning that he was a suitable killer by making him murder her targets in exchange for sex and companionship.]]
* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: She is the real mastermind behind Vernon's anti-technology murders, though he was always a killer beforehand.]]
* {{Revenge}}: [[spoiler: All of the people she has Vernon murder were in some way connected to the defect in her car, no matter how tangentially.]]

[[folder:Dante Spiro]]
!! Dante Spiro
An Italian prosecutor who commands the investigation into The Composer once he reaches Italy and btus heads with Rhyme.

!!Notable Antagonists

[[folder:The Watchmaker]]
!!The Watchmaker, aka Gerald Duncan, aka Richard Logan, aka [[spoiler: Charles Vespasian Hale]]

A ProfessionalKiller who uses rigid timing and numerous distractions to accomplish his goals. The first killer to outsmart Rhyme and get away scot-free in ''The Cold Moon'', he has become Rhyme's [[ArchEnemy worst nemesis]].

!!Miscellaneous Single-Book Characters

[[folder:The Bomber]]
!!The Bomber, aka [[spoiler: Carol Ganz / Charlotte Willoughby]]

A RightWingMilitiaFanatic MadBomber who detonates a bomb in an embassy at the end of ''The Bone Collector'', killing numerous attendees. [[spoiler: It's really Charlotte Willoughby, who was attacked and waylaid from her goal by the Bone Collector under the guise of Carol Ganz.]]

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: She abuses and neglects Pam, and when told that she would have to give up her fanatical conspirators or never see her daughter again, she unhesitatingly chose the latter.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: The sweet, innocent victim and loving mother is really an abusive, delusional crank.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: After evading capture in ''The Bone Collector'', they return a full nine years later for ''The Cold Moon''.
* MadBomber
* ManBehindTheMan: Returns in ''The Cold Moon'' as the Watchmaker's employer.
* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: The first depicted in the series and a representative of a particular militia branch that reappears several times.
* WalkingSpoiler: You're not even supposed to know this character exists, let alone who they are.

[[folder:Jodie]]
!!Joe D'Oforio, aka Jodie[[spoiler:, aka The Coffin Dancer]]

A homeless drug peddler who, by a strange twist of fate, holds Stephen Kall hostage at gunpoint just as the police are ready to track him down. After escaping together, Jodie ends up accompanying Stephen and assisting him in his ventures as the two rapidly develop a close bond. [[spoiler: In reality, "Jodie" is the Coffin Dancer, and he was the one who hired Stephen, purposefully meeting him as part of his plan.]]

* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler: Has a brief MyGodWhatHaveIDone? Moment after meeting Geneva in person but quickly shrugs it off after remind himself how much privilege and luxury he stands to lose if she succeeds in her goal]].

[[folder: William Ashberry, Jr.]]

Business and operations manager for Hudson Air.

[[folder: William Ashberry, Jr.]]
!!William Ashberry, Jr.

President of the Hiram Sanford Foundation.
----
* Bigger Bad: [[spoiler: He hired Boyd to kill a girl who stumbled on to evidence that her ancestor was framed for a robbery by [[GreaterScopeVillain Sanford]] so he could take the land and built a bank on it.]]
[[/folder]]

!!William Ashberry, Jr.]]

* [[UsefulNote/{{Taoism}} Taoism]]: He believes in extreme patience and self-discipline, practices ''feng shui'' religiously, and prays to the archer god Yi when he needs support.

* TapOnTheHead: Brutally subverted and deconstructed with his injury. Thompson Boyd merely knocked him out with a club, but the damage still lingers with him and causes him all manner of confusion, inconvenience, and general pain.

* TapOnTheHead: Brutally deconstructed when he clubs Ron Pulaski in the head to knock him out. The attack gives Pulaski a crippling brain injury that he barely recovers from and still continues to plague him with headaches and disorientation.

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: She abuses and neglects Pam, and when told that she would have to give up her fanatical conspirators to ever see her daughter again, she unhesitatingly chose the latter.]]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Her marksmanship abilities border on superhuman; she's placed first in most contests and tends to make every shot she takes. Best demonstrated at the end of ''The Coffin Dancer'', when she [[spoiler: puts a pistol round straight through the scope of the Dancer's rifle from across a darkened field with little time to properly line up the shot]].

* AccidentallyAccurate: [[spoiler: His whole story about "the man in tan overalls" is fiction, made up so he would have an excuse to get Mary-Beth. However, there really is a secretive and murderous danger in the town -- [[DirtyCop the police department]].]]

* {{Badass}}: ''And how''. He knows how to accurately fire [[GunsAkimbo two pistols at once]] (and carries two holsters specifically for this). In ''The Coffin Dancer'', he even manages to fire two submachine guns in a close-quarters gunfight with Stephen Kall -- who is an expertly trained ProfessionalKiller with countless victims -- ''in the middle of a burning building''.

* {{Badass}}: In the climax, he [[spoiler: outruns a police sting, smashes through a glass door, and enters a [[GoodOldFisticuffs fist fight]]-turned-KnifeFight with Amelia that doesn't end even when he gets his hand stabbed.]]

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Thanks to studying the work of Rhyme's go-to forensic reference Edmund Locard, researching Rhyme's case history, and [[spoiler: being trained by the Watchmaker]], he knows exactly what procedures Amelia will follow on investigating crime scenes and where Rhyme's mind will make connections.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: He has an extensive knowledge of forensic procedure, allowing him to truly match wits with Rhyme.

!!The Insect Boy, aka Garret Hanlon

Roland Bell's cousin, the county sheriff where Garret Hanlon lives. When Garret absconds with two local women just as Rhyme is arriving in the state for experimental surgery, Bell calls on Rhyme's help in consulting for the investigation.

A policewoman on Jim Bell's force present in both manhunts. During the second, she develops a vendetta against Amelia for [[spoiler: [[AccidentalMurder accidentally shooting]] fellow cop Jesse Corn]] and develops the desire to kill her.

A local GunNut in Garret Hanlon's town. When Garret escapes custody with Amelia, Rich and his friends secretly dog behind the police, ready to shoot the boy dead on sight and claim the bounty on his head.