Standing Still

April 10, 2017
A horrific fire on Christmas Eve 1989 opens Ramsey’s overly eventful eighth mystery featuring Det. Chief Insp. Colin Anderson, Det. Insp. Freddie Costello, and their colleagues in Glasgow’s Partickhill Major Investigation Team (after 2016’s Rat Run). Flash forward to June 2016, early on the day of the city’s West End Festival, a chaotic annual event noted for its outlandish costumes, floats, and marching bands. A dog walker finds the body of a young man stuffed in a tea chest. A hysterical mother arrives on the scene, convinced that the victim must be her son, who has been missing for a few hours. Costello is left to wonder: how could a healthy 19-year-old be abducted on such a busy day, and is this disappearance linked to other kidnappings? Meanwhile, a pompous politician is pushing for a quick resolution to the case, and Anderson is feeling guilty at having to put his ailing wife into a nursing home. The story moves along at a good clip right up to the finale, a macabre cross between a Shakespearean tragedy and a Hammer horror film. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company (U.K.).

July 20, 2015
Two particularly brutal murders claim the attention of Det. Chief Insp. Colin Anderson in Ramsay’s unsettling sixth police thriller featuring the Scottish copper and Det. Insp. Winifred “Freddie” Costello (after 2014’s The Night Hunter). One victim, found in a field with his arms ripped off, appears to be Warren McAvoy, long wanted for questioning in a child murder case. The other is 92-year-old Arabella Barr, an invalid who was wrapped in her duvet before someone set fire to the duvet. Anderson turns the arson case over to his juniors so he and Costello can focus on who killed McAvoy. That McAvoy murdered three children becomes increasingly doubtful. Newcomers to the series may have trouble keeping the many deftly sketched characters straight, but the intricate plot will keep readers turning the pages of this well-told tale of evil brought to justice. Those seeking evocative descriptions of the Scottish countryside should look elsewhere. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company (U.K.).

August 1, 2015
Detectives Anderson and Costello are back in a case that's thoroughly creepy. A man is found in a field, his arms torn out of their sockets and a Tarot card stuck in his throat. He's eventually identified as Warren McAvoy, who's been missing for months after being accused of killing at least one child. The first thought in Anderson's mind is that this was some horrifying form of retribution, but as he and Costello dig deeper, their investigation takes them back decades to another unsolved murder, and leads them to the shores of Loch Lomond, where a seemingly haunted holiday park, rumors of witchcraft, and families torn apart by grief and hatred are linked to the case. After weeks of frustration, they finally think they've cracked it, only to find their own lives at risk in a nerve-jangling climax. Masterful writing, vivid characters, and a highly imaginative, terrifying, and byzantine plot combine for a satisfying read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2017
Ramsay's latest Anderson and Costello mystery is a gritty, gruesome, can't-put-it-down read that's full of suspense and twists. The story begins when a teenager's body is discovered on a backstreet. His body has been folded in on itself and stuffed into a tea chest, which is nailed shut. Shortly after the grisly discovery is made, teenager David Kerr is reported missing, and his mother is sure he's the boy in the tea chest. Then 19-year-old Amy Niven turns up at the police station, claiming she was abducted by aliens, who told her to report what happened to DCI Colin Anderson. Anderson is naturally skeptical, but he discovers a possible link to the body in the tea chest and the missing boy. As Anderson and his team investigate, they discover connections between a local retirement home for former actors, a mysterious blond woman, a terrible fire that occurred decades earlier, and a children's theater. When they finally crack the case, even these hardened cops are blindsided by the brutality of what's happened. A must-read for genre fans who can tolerate blood and gore.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)