Woman Chased by Crows: An Orwell Brennan Mystery

In Strange’s absorbing second Orwell Brennan mystery (after 2010’s Follow Me Down), Brennan, the avuncular police chief of tiny Dockerty, Ontario, and his dedicated team probe a series of murders involving a group of ballet dancers who fled the Soviet Union in 1981. At the time they unwittingly carried with them a stash of jewels, including a priceless ruby once belonging to the Czarina Alexandra. The refugees are now being killed one by one, and the ruby is still missing. Key to the investigation is paranoid and delusional ballerina Anya Zubrovskaya, who fears, justifiably so, that she may be the next victim. A lead investigator’s murder raises the stakes. Two wonderfully realized detectives, Adele Moen and Stacy Crean, use their unconventional skills to turn up vital evidence. This finely detailed story contains mysteries within mysteries that are revealed, like the pieces in a matryoshka doll, one nesting inside the other. Agent: Peter Taylor. (May)