ON AN OUTGOING TIDE

An unflinching look at the dangerous effects of the malicious gossip spread by social media.

DCI Anderson and DI Costello of Police Scotland have caught the case of medical student Aasha Ariti, who was found floating in the Firth of Clyde. She was last seen leaving a pub with another student who’d once complained online about "Asians buying themselves places at Scottish universities." So Aasha’s companion is accused of prejudice and possibly murder. Costello, who’s been shopping for her elderly neighbor in the time of Covid, finds the woman unconscious and calls an ambulance; she's later accused by a daughter the neighbor never mentioned of stealing a large sum of money from her mother's flat. Anderson must deal with the trauma of having his beloved dog put down. The pair are astounded when they’re suddenly taken off Aasha’s case to investigate the murder and mutilation of an old man found sitting in a chair in his own attic, facing the frozen movie image of a naked toddler. The deceased, who was using a false name, is identified as one of the Peacocks, three friends who danced in the clubs of the late 1950s along with Birdie Summer, who dated one but married another of them. Anderson and Costello, who smell something political and dangerous in this ice-cold case, must deal with rumors of pedophilia that only complicate their task.

An incisive novel by the queen of character-driven procedurals.