I Love My Kindle

And now I know why I love my Kindle so much! I've been reading, or rather re-reading, Ian Rankin's Rebus novels and in the worst possible way for a wee yin like me – a while ago I bought three omnibuses (omnibi?) each with three stories, ie the first nine novels, as I have always liked to read a series in chronological order, that way you get a better feel for the development of the principal characters: the detective and the chronicler. Trouble is, you guessed it, the books are damn heavy for a wee thing like me, especially if a lot of my reading is during my morning rub-a-dub-dub, or out in the garden with a ciggie and a coffee. I don't keep any count of the amount of caffeine I am ingesting, but it must be lots! Maybe that's why I can't always sleep at night, or wake up about 2,30 or 3.00am and either have a mug of cocoa or a hot toddy – which I am trying to cut down on after my nearest and dearest noticed that another empty was lined up with the coffee jars for the bottle bank.

You will probably have realised that Rebus is an anagram of Bruse, and you would be right, Ian rankin used my cousin DCI Bruce Bruse as the model for his detective inspector (Bruce awas a DI at the time) and although Bruce doesn't appear as frequently in my chronicle, is simply because now that he is a DCI he spends a lot of time at Fettes which is the Edinburgh HQ for Police Scotland and like most DCIs, delegates work to teams headed by a DI. Which is why it is usually one or other of my other cousins, DI Gordon Brevity, Sergeant Goldy Brevity, WPC Isa Urquhart or Trainee WPC Gertie Mountcastle who tend to be central.

Anyhoo, that's enuff name-dropping for one day. I normally don't go in for lots and lots of name-dropping, it's not my style. Sometimes, of course, it's necessary to refer to other people in order to make a particular point, or just because I'm particularly fond of them. Like Josie.

I do like Josie.

And obviously, if you do like someone as much as I like Josie, it's nice to be able to say so.

Mind you, if I was writing a dissertation on Wittgenstein's theory, or belief, I'm not actually sure which it is, that if used and therefore blunt razor blades are left long enough they will eventually resharpen – which, when you see it in print (okay, it isn't print, it's in type, if you really have to be pedantic) seems rather bizarre, well, to be honest, it is rather bizarre – according to some Law of the Universe about infinity or simply the effects of gravity and atmosphere which wear away anything, everything, then it would not be appropriate, unless in reference to some contribution to the discussion, to simply say, “and so does Josie,” or, “Josie is right about that!”

But Josie likes Rebus and so do I, which is just one of the many things we have in common.

And for anyone who is not already familiar with him, Rebus is a Fifer and an Edinburgh cop, to boot. His origins in Fife are always present in his thinking and in Strip Jack, the story I am reading at the moment, one of the people involved is an MP, Gregor Jack, who at the beginning of the story is discovered in flagrante, in a classy New town brothel, and also a Fifer. And although – for reasons not strictly relevant, but certainly very sexist – patrons of brothels, just like customers of prostitutes, are not committing an offence, while the prostitutes and brothel owners are, Rebus, who participates in the raid, under the authority of Chief Superintendent Watson, begins to suspect that the MP had been 'set up', as reporters and photographers seemed to have been 'tipped off' and were waiting and ready to photograph Jack as he leaves the premises and is driven off with the other customers to give a statement at the Police Station. So Rebus begins to wonder about the questions: 'why would someone want to set up Gregor jack?' and 'who would want to set him up?'

I was discussing this with Josie last night – she is quite a fan of Rebus too, and has read all of Ian Rankin's books – and although she knows the outcome of the story already, she tried to put that knowledge aside and we spoke about the different reasons why anyone would want to bring down a political man.

As usual, her answers were concise: Revenge, Jealousy, Greed – all the usual suspects, “a lot of people like to see people humbled,” she said, “it's a bit like the way tabloids like to build someone up, promote them, establish them in the minds of their readers and then, suddenly and for no obvious reason, bring them crashing back down to earth. It's a kind of schadenfreude, isn't it? We like to see the rich, famous and powerful, brought down to earth, to see them on their knees, forced to apologise for whatever it is that has humbled them – and usually something to do with sex or money. And if it is someone we have admired, been encouraged by the papers to admire, then after the initial shock, we join in with the hounds baying for blood, it's a dark part of our character, this mob rule; while we might say we don't approve of the atavistic persecution of our former heroes. But we buy the papers, we watch the scenes of the abject and penitent standing by their front gates, addressing he waiting reporters and us, the viewers glued to our screens, apologising for letting everyone down, and although we have condemned the show-trials which used to take place in Stalin's Soviet Union and still do in China, and North Korea, with 'confessions' signed if not written by the accused, we still lap it all up, like the crowds in the Colliseum thousands of years ago! I sometimes wonder,” she mused, “if we have really progressed at all?” and then she fell silent, no doubt with all the images she had invoked tumbling around in her pretty head.

“Enough,” said I, “it's time for bed,” and up the wooden hill we went.

  But Oh! What a shock in the penultimate episode of Line of Duty (BBC2 9pm Thursday)! This and Scott and Bailey (ITV 9pm Wednesday) are the two Must Sees at the moment: which means, lock the doors, take the phone off the hook, douse the lights, after making sure that you have a cuppa at your side because you won't want to miss a word. Actually, I record them so I won't have to sit cross-legged. after drinking my tea. Lod is written by Jed Mercurio and this is the Third Season, which is difficult to believe, it feels like more, because every episode is so crammed with details that it feels like there have been more. SaB too – there is no wasted time, no long-shots of a city skyline, or of it's mean streets, In these two serials, just as in Happy Valley written by Sally Wainwright, who wrote SaB and Last Tango in Halifax, every scene, every shot, moves the story along and this means information is crammed into the dialogue, the visuals and all helps to build the tension. That and the unexpected deaths of principal characters. Crikey! Watch it on the BBC iplayer if you haven;t seen it , and the ITV player for Scott and Bailey. Whatever you do.

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