View source for For Any Other Truth (DCI Jim Daley) by Denzil Meyrick

{{infobox1
|title=For Any Other Truth (DCI Jim Daley)
|author=Denzil Meyrick
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=Book nine in the series would read as a stand alone but you'd miss out on a lot of backstory.  A reasonable read.
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=432
|publisher=Polygon
|date=June 2021
|isbn=978-1846975714
|website=https://birlinn.co.uk/Denzil-Meyrick/
|cover=1846975719
|aznuk=1846975719
|aznus=1846975719
}}
We learn that MI5 is having its problems with environmental terrorists supergluing themselves to awkward places.  But that's London, isn't it?  What's happening in Kinloch?

When a light aircraft crash lands at Machrie airport, DCI Jim Daley and his colleague, Acting DI Brian Scott, head off for the airport straight away.  It soon becomes evident though that both occupants of the plane were dead before take off.  How could that be?  The sort of tech which would make that possible isn't available to the paying public.  And why have the man no identification on them - or even labels in their clothes?

Chief Superintendent Carrie Symington was just beginning to think that those secrets from her past might stay there when her nemesis, Harry Chappell, returns to torment her and brings his colleague, Larry Bower, with him.  If anything, Bower is more vicious than Chappell.  Who can she turn to - and will her past cost her the job she loves and her reputation?  She's reluctant to turn to Daley or Scott but who else is there?

Annie's still the general manager at the County Hotel but she has her doubts about her new boss, Ian Macmillan.  The Canadian seems genial on the surface but she has a suspicion that there's more to him than meets the eye.  Then Hamish - her most loyal customer - goes missing at sea when he finds himself in the wrong place - and greeting some very dodgy sailors.  And Jim and Brian?  Well, Jim's marriage is still in the doldrums and Brian's son, Will, is back home but what's he doing with himself and where's his money coming from?

It's book nine in the series with the old regulars making further appearances: everyone's worried about Hamish - and Annie particularly so.  Life feels very difficult for her with Ian MacMillan being unpredictable.  She's worried that Hamish is dead but it's the uncertainty she can't stand.

It's easy to forget just how close coastal southwest Scotland is to Northern Ireland and the province and the associated troubles play a large part in the story.  It brings a new dimension to the series.  For the first time, I felt that the series needed something of a lift.  It was a good read, an interesting read - but it didn't give me the buzz that earlier books have delivered.  I'll still be interested to see what the next in the series unveils, though!

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If you are interested in the series, [[Denzil Meyrick's DCI Daley books in chronological order|here's the list of the books in chronological order]]. For more Scottish crime, we have [[Dead Man's Grave (DS Max Craigie) by Neil Lancaster]].


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