In the summer of 2017 I was coming to the end of a two year tour in Germany. Melissa was coming over for a two-week visit. We set up to meet in Edinburgh, Scotland. We drove from the airport up into the Scottish highlands ending up meeting one of Melissa’s distant relatives for a wonderful tour through the countryside near Loch Ness. (I even got to meet a well-known Loch Ness researcher (No Nessie)!)

Back in Edinburgh we took a Hop On Hop Off bus tour (“Ho Ho” for insiders!) through the city. The tour guide mentioned a local detective story author but I didn’t catch the name.

A couple days later at the airport’s W. H. Smith book store I saw a banner for a detective story by Ian Rankin. I looked. It was “the right guy” – Edinburgh detective John Rebus – but I decided to start with book one from Amazon. I ordered the first two new. Then the next 15 used, sometimes in three-in-one volumes for just a couple dollars*. Book 18 and Book 19 came from the local library in the last couple weeks, with Book 19 making the trip to Tennessee with me. When I read the next three Rebus novels, all available through the local library*, I will have read all 22 novels in two years. Landmarks mentioned in each book remind me of my visit to Edinburgh with Melissa.

*I have roots in both Scotland and the Swabian part of Germany. Both are known for their, uh, “thriftiness” – used books and the library save a lot of money! However, if you do buy anything from the Amazon links I will get a few cents. I’ve made a couple dollars in the last year. Gonna get rich!