When the Devil Drives

In Brookmyre’s satisfying second Glaswegian thriller featuring PI Jasmine Sharp and Det. Supt. Catherine McLeod (after 2011’s Where the Bodies Are Buried), Alice Petrie asks Jasmine to track down her sister, Tessa Garrion, a burgeoning stage actress whom Petrie hasn’t seen since their mother’s funeral in 1981. Meanwhile, out at Cragruthes Castle in Argyll, Catherine and her team look into the demise of actor Hamish Queen, shot dead in the middle of an outdoor theater performance. While Queen had artistic rivals, a motive for murder remains elusive. The more Jasmine learns about Tessa, the less convinced she becomes that Petrie’s sister is still alive. A member of Glass Shoe Company, one of Queen’s early 1980s theater efforts, Tessa fell off the map after a drug- and sex-fueled summer, a time no one else wants to discuss. Inevitably, Jasmine’s and Catherine’s investigations collide, but Brookmyre wisely holds off on the true connections until the chilling climax. Agent: Caroline Dawnay, United Agents (U.K.) (May)