I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House for an advance copy of The Sideman, the tenth novel to feature DCI Anderson and DI Costello of Police Scotland.

Following on from the events of the previous novel in the series, The Suffering of Strangers, Costello is convinced that George Haggerty murdered his wife and son but with no one taking her seriously due to his cast iron alibi she abruptly resigns from the Police and disappears. In the meantime Police Scotland is dealing with several apparently unrelated incidents, a body is found on a remote highland hillside, a woman with amnesia and a skull fracture is found in Glasgow city centre and a large quantity of blood is found on the shores of Loch Lomond.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Sideman with its mixture of clever plotting, suspense and Scottish locations. I have been a longtime reader of this series and always look forward to the latest instalment and this one doesn't disappoint. The blurb would lead you to believe that it is a sequel to The Suffering of Strangers and with the focus on George Haggerty it perhaps is but the novel is self contained and uses Costello's obsession with Haggerty as a starting point to go in a different direction. All the salient points are recapped and the reader won't miss anything if they come fresh to this one.

Initially the novel switches perspective between various characters and events before finally settling mostly on Colin Anderson and his take on events. It is all very mysterious and difficult for the reader to work out the connections. Normally this approach drives me mad as I like to know what I'm dealing with but I found all these seemingly random events very intriguing and compulsive and where they lead is well worth the journey with some good twists and unexpected surprises. In the spirit of honesty it may be my partiality to the series and characters that allows me to ignore any frustration at the constantly shifting perspective, but whatever, I found it a difficult book to put down.

Despite Costello and her crusade being the catalyst for the novel she is very much a background figure with the action centring on Colin Anderson, the Complaints and DCi Patrick of Port Macduff. I missed her sarcastic humour but it's good to see Anderson settled and content after much upheaval in his life. I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of DI Mathieson of the Complaints, narrow minded and apt to jump to premature conclusions, so it is particularly pleasant to see her proved wrong and I love the mystery of what DCI Patrick is up to.

The Sideman is a great read which I have no hesitation in recommending.