Anderson and Costello Books in Order: How to read Caro Ramsay’s series?

From Scottish writer Caro Ramsay, the Anderson and Costello series is a crime procedural taking place in Glasgow. The series focuses on complex murder cases and the detectives Anderson and Costello’s tenacious pursuit of justice. They face both the criminals and the inner demons that stalk them as they delve into each case, navigating Glasgow’s grimy and sometimes dark underbelly.

How to read the Anderson and Costello Series in Order?

Every entry in the Anderson and Costello book series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.

1. Absolution – The Crucifixion Killer is stalking Glasgow, leaving victims’ mutilated bodies in a Christ-like pose. DCI Alan McAlpine is drafted in to lead the hunt, supported by local officers DI Anderson and DS Costello. But the past holds horrific memories for McAlpine. He last worked this beat some twenty years earlier, when he was assigned to guard a woman at a Glasgow hospital. An obsession was born in that hospital room that has never quite left McAlpine and now it seems to be resurfacing. As the chase to halt the gruesome murders intensifies, so Anderson and Costello find chilling cause for concern uncomfortably close to home…
2. Singing to the Dead – It is the run-up to Christmas when two seven-year-old boys are abducted from the streets of Glasgow. For DI Colin Anderson the case is especially disturbing, because the boys look so much like his own young son Peter. When a simple house fire turns into a full-scale murder investigation, DS Costello’s hunch is the crimes are connected.
3. Dark Water – In the attic of a deserted tenement, the body of a criminal is found hanging with his face horribly mutilated. Investigating officers Detective Inspector Anderson and Detective Sergeant Costello believe he was a suspect in a decade-old case: the rape and attempted murder of a young student. There are other similar cases on file. But the dead man didn’t act alone. He had an accomplice in his crimes.

4. The Blood of Crows – DI Colin Anderson is having a bad week. His conviction of pedophile Skelpie Fairbairn is declared unsafe, putting Fairbairn back on Glasgow’s streets. Then a succession of strange crimes – a gangster torched alive; a teenage boy tortured then dropped off a bridge; a police suicide; a young girl tied to the river bank and left for the tide – leave Anderson with his hands full and questioning whether this array of evils are all, somehow, linked.
5. The Night Hunter – Elvie McCulloch’s sister Sophie has been missing for 57 days. She went out for a run – and never came home. Several young woman in the area have disappeared in similar circumstances, and Elvie’s family fears the worst. Teaming up with retired detective Billy Hopkirk, Elvie determines to find out the truth. But as the pair collaborate with Anderson and Costello, they find themselves up against a terrifying enemy.
6. The Tears of Angels – A few days before the summer solstice, a 92-year-old woman is found burned to death in her home. On the same day, a man’s mutilated corpse is discovered, his arms ripped from their sockets, with a tarot card depicting the Fool inserted in his mouth. When the victim is identified as someone for whom the police have been looking for almost a year, detectives Anderson and Costello find themselves caught up in a case where nothing is as it seems.

7. Rat Run – In August 1992, a young mother and her two small sons were brutally murdered in the woods behind their home. Her neighbour Andrew Gyle was convicted of the crime. Now, twenty-three years later, a macabre discovery throws new light on the case. Having only just returned to work following an enforced leave of absence, DCI Colin Anderson and his partner, DI Costello, uncover serious discrepancies in the original investigation.
8. Standing Still – Glasgow’s citizens are in a celebratory mood for the annual West End Festival parade. But beneath the jovial surface lurks something darker. A confused young woman is found wandering among the stilt walkers and jostling crowds, claiming to have been abducted by aliens. Before DCI Anderson and DI Costello can investigate further, a body is discovered, and it becomes horrifyingly clear that a depraved killer has taken advantage of the busiest day of the year to carry out a gruesomely macabre plan.
9. The Suffering of Strangers – When a six-week-old baby is stolen from outside a village shop, Detective Inspector Costello quickly surmises there’s more to this case than meets the eye. As she questions those involved, she uncovers evidence that this was no impulsive act as the police initially assumed, but something cold, logical, and meticulously planned. Who has taken Baby Sholto, and why? Colin Anderson meanwhile is on the Cold Case Unit, reviewing the unsolved rape of a young mother back in 1996.

10. The Sideman – DI Costello has resigned. Convinced that George Haggerty murdered his wife and son despite his cast-iron alibi, Costello has gone solo, determined to expose a ruthless killer. With a badly beaten body found on a remote mountain pass, DCI Colin Anderson has no time to ponder the loss of his partner of 20 years.
11. The Red, Red Snow – A family man is stabbed to death at a crowded Christmas Ice Show. Murdered in plain sight. No clues, no witnesses, no known motive. Called to investigate, detectives Anderson & Costello discover that the holiday season can be anything but merry.
12. On an Outgoing Tide – The body is found in the early hours of the morning, drifting lifelessly on the outgoing tide. Twenty-three-year-old medical student Aasha Ariti had been enjoying a night out to celebrate the end of lockdown. Anthony Poole, the last person to have seen her alive, is the prime suspect. Before detectives Anderson and Costello can make further headway, they are pulled off the case to investigate the murder of a pensioner in his own home.

13. The Silent Conversation – It’s been four years since four-year-old Johnny Clearwater disappeared without trace one hot summer afternoon. Now, a new TV documentary series is revisiting the case, dredging up memories perhaps best left forgotten. On the night the TV show is broadcast, detectives Anderson and Costello are called out to investigate the murder of a female police officer. On arriving at the scene, they discover that nothing about this death is as straightforward as it would appear. The pressure intensifies when a link is discovered between the dead woman and the disappearance of Johnny Clearwater four years earlier.

If you like the Anderson and Costello reading order, you may be interested in the DCI Logan series, the Inspector McLean books, the DI Kim Stone novels…