The Devil Stone

Det. Constable Christine Caplan, the star of this solid series launch from Scottish author Ramsay (the Anderson and Costello series), is dispatched to Otterburn, a village outside Glasgow, to help solve the murder of five members of the wealthy McGregor family in a satanic ritual. The police know the only item missing from the murder scene is a particular heirloom, the Devil Stone, which worshippers believe brings its owner great power and riches. Suspects include some well-known local devil worshippers and the one surviving McGregor, who’s gone missing. When Caplan’s new commanding officer, Det. Chief Insp. Bob Oswald, who was leading the investigation, disappears, she takes charge. Recently demoted for losing evidence in her last case, Caplan knows that solving the crime will make or break her career, and to do so she must partner with her police investigator ex-lover, if she can trust him. The action initially moves slowly as Ramsay lays down the complicated background and introduces a host of lightly sketched characters, but the disparate pieces eventually fall into place as the plot builds to a tidy ending. Fans of contemporary British police procedurals will want to have a look. Agent: Jane Gregory, David Higham Assoc. (U.K.). (Dec.)