On an Outgoing Tide

In Ramsay’s intricately plotted 12th mystery featuring Det. Chief Insp. Colin Anderson and Det. Insp. Winifred “Freddie” Costello (after 2020’s The Red, Red Snow), the two Glasgow detectives look into the death of 23-year-old Aasha Ariti, whose body was found floating in the Firth of Clyde the morning after she celebrated her first night out post- Covid-19 lockdown at a nightclub. Social media newsmongers are quick to label her death a hate crime because she was of Asian descent. The pair next investigate the torture murder of 81-year-old Jimmy Pearcey. Rumors that Pearcey was a pedophile surface, and soon locals are demanding that the police protect their neighborhood, and journalists are threatening to expose a police cover-up. That Pearcey was living under an assumed name adds fuel to the fire, and leads to Anderson and Costello finding a link between Pearcey’s death and a murder that took place in 1978. Ramsay does a masterly job of weaving the cases together around the theme of lies masquerading as truth. This riveting police procedural is sure to please fans and newcomers alike. Agent: Jane Gregory, David Higham Assoc. (U.K.). (Apr.)