Midnight and Blue

 Rebus is aging and Sir Ian Rankin express his unwillingness to extend his career.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unsuccessfully attempted to end the career of Sherlock Holmes due to the extraordinary popularity of his stories.  Will Sir Ian Rankin encounter a similar reaction from his public?

The TV series with Richard Rankin may work for a while.  However, I would suggest trying to get Rebus' grandson to take over.  He completed his academic studies for criminology before pursuing his postgraduate studies in Scottish history.  Fife has some interesting unsolved mysteries with some recent mysteries like the Fife fisherman who disappeared or the Fife beast.

This would give the author to return to his James Hogg/Robert Louis Stevenson antisyzygy interests.

Do you think Midnight and Blue should be the end of Rebus?

Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft

I recently finished Hex by Jenni Fagan in the Darkland Tale series which was dedicated to Geillis Duncan, a convicted witch. After reading How to Kill a Witch: a guide for the patriarchy where she was mentioned, I decided to open Sir Walter Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft for his view. Scott stated, "It would be disgusting to follow the numerous cases in which the same uniform credulity, he same extorted confessions, the same prejudiced and exaggerated evidence, concluded in the same tragedy at the stake and the pile." I recommend all three books. I was familiar with the Salem witchcraft trials but not the North Berwick in Scotland.

Robin Hood

 Sir Walter Scott immortalized many historical figures which continue to appear in popular culture.  Frank Sinatra updated the Robin Hood story in the highly entertaining musical Robin and the Seven Hoods.  I did not realize until I watched this film last night that his Chicago My Kind of Town came from this film. If you want an approach different than Errol Flynn or Ivanhoe, watch this fun film.

Sketches from Glasgow

 This was a quick but entertaining read with an entertaining narrative about Glasgow.  The book by J. A. Hammerton is hard to find but worth the effort.

The Two Drovers

 I thoroughly enjoyed this finely crafted short story which centers on Scott's repeated themes of chivalry and honor. Even though Scott was very patriotic, he was not a Jacobite and this story is just another example of his desire for Scotland and England to put their feuds in the past. The Scots terminology slowed the read a bit but I had my Scots dictionary at hand. I highly recommend this story.

The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this unique tale of chivalry from an unusual perspective. I decided to read it after watching a 1950s film about King Richard and the Crusaders. The scenes with the Scottish knight's dog were my favorite in the book. The more recent film Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom was obviously inspired by this book even though Scott is given no credit. Perhaps an affordable new edition of this book would be published if Hollywood would give Scott a footnote or two.

Glenfinlas

 I chanced upon a volume of Tales from the Haunted Forests of Britain entitled Weird Woods.  Eton scholar M. R. James has one entry A Neighbor's Landmark which has a scholarly library entrance.  This interesting story has a quote from Sir Walter Scott's Glenfinlas.  Scott first included this in his Tales of Wonder in 1801 then later in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.  Scott composed some captivating supernatural tales and this one does not end well for Lord Ronald after a visit by a water soaked lady in green.