The Sideman

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.). (Oct.)