The Sideman

March 1, 2018

When a new mother leaves her child in the car while she runs into the store, the unthinkable happens: when she returns, the infant is gone and a different baby, one with Down syndrome, has been left in his place. Glasgow DI Costello begins to investigate and soon realizes that the crime shows signs of having been carefully planned rather than one of opportunity. This leads Costello to set about finding and questioning the mother's friends and acquaintances. At the same time, DCI Colin Anderson is investigating a cold case, convinced that there was a pattern in past attacks, including one that involves an old acquaintance. Ramsay's ninth "Anderson and Costello" mystery (after Standing Still) continues the well-developed and engaging characterization found in her previous books, and the plot proceeds logically through the intricacies of the case. She draws in readers and skillfully provides more than one suspect as Costello searches for the truth. VERDICT Mystery and suspense fans will be thrilled to discover this British procedural series, with this latest addition hard to put down.--Linda Oliver, MLIS, Colorado Springs

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2018
In what may well be her best book yet in the Anderson and Costello cop series, Ramsay offers up a cracking plot, disturbing and unexpected twists, flawed yet compelling characters, and an unsettling conclusion in this story about all the bad things that can happen to children. As the story begins, Costello is called to investigate the kidnapping of a six-week-old baby. She's still feeling traumatized by the Bernadette Kissel case, which saw her play a key role in convicting a woman who starved, beat, and ultimately killed her child. The last thing Costello wants is another kiddie case, but if she must take it on, she'd like nothing better than to have the support of her old partner, Colin Anderson, and the rest of their team. However, Colin's now sidelined in the cold-case unit, and the other two team members have been assigned to desk jobs, so it seems Costello is on her own. Before long, though, it emerges that Costello's baby kidnapping case has links to Anderson's latest cold casea decades-old kidnapping and rape. The further they move into the dual investigations, the more horrors they discover. A taut, shattering, mesmerizing page-turner that definitely kicks this series up several notches.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2018
Readers unfamiliar with The Suffering of Strangers (2018), the previous installment in Ramsay's excellent series, may initially find references to events that happened in that book confusing, but if they stick with the story, they'll find that Ramsay has once again produced a chilling, can't-put-it-down read. Policewoman Costello found the bloodied bodies of Abigail Haggerty and her teenage son, Malcolm, both of whom Costello had been trying to rescue from husband and father George, who she was convinced was going to kill them. But to Costello's frustration, Haggerty had an iron-clad alibi for the time his family died. Costello is positive George is the killer, but her superiors think she should drop the case. So sure is she of George's guilt that she goes AWOL to uncover the truth. More deaths follow as Costello continues to dig. Help comes from an unexpected quarter?Abigail Haggerty's alcoholic sister, Valerie?just in time to save Costello. Another suspenseful read in a consistently gripping series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

August 20, 2018
Ramsay’s intricate 10th police procedural featuring Glasgow-based Det. Insp. Winifred “Freddie” Costello and her colleague, Det. Chief Insp. Colin Anderson, picks up where its predecessor, The Suffering of Strangers, left off, with Costello still convinced that George Haggerty killed his wife and son despite his ironclad alibi. Receiving insufficient support from higher-ups in the police force, Costello summarily resigns, leaving Anderson to wonder whether she may try to investigate Haggerty on her own “without the restriction of the badge.” Meanwhile, young officer Donnie McCaffrey gets a late-night text that brings him to the northwest bank of Loch Lomond, at Inveruglass. When he sees someone surreptitiously heading into the woods, he follows. Det. Constable Gordan Wyngate arrives at the Inveruglass car park in response to a call from the Wildlife Protection Unit and soon finds himself in charge of an investigation regarding a badly beaten body found in the woods. Though seldom seen, Costello serves as the maypole around which the various subplots entwine. Readers will eagerly await her next outing. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Co. (U.K.).