Danger Woman (Botswana Series) - Hardcover

Ramsay, Frederick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 146420585X ISBN 13: 9781464205859

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2016

Synopsis

In Botswana, people of the north live in harmony with the wildlife, yet predators and poachers freely roam. The lions may be kings, but hyenas will steal their prey. A Chobe Game Park pack led by the alpha female is especially fearless. The locals call her Kotsi Mosadi, Setswana for Danger Woman. Following a recent rash of deaths and dismembered body parts appearing in the park, District Superintendent Sanderson is alerted to the discovery of a ravaged human skull, believed to be the work of the Russian Bratva. Fresh from St. Petersburg, led by Oleg Lenka, these mafiosi think it will be a cinch to take over the region's high-end tourist trade and in particular the casino/hotel operation that is the fiercely held, final dream of American billionaire Leo Painter. Sanderson's friend and, it must be said, her lover, Inspector Kgabo Modise of the Botswana Police Service, is tasked to remove them. Arriving from Gabarone, deploying limited staff undercover, Modise is quickly swept into a complex set of moves orchestrated to outwit not so much Lenka, a traditional kind of thug, but his mistress Irena Davidova, the Bratva's own Danger Woman. She's the alpha of the Russian pack-but for how long? Aided by Sanderson, who has some clever moves of her own, Modise and his team gradually undermine the Bratva's assumption that the intimidation tactics that worked in St. Petersburg will work in Botswana, a country where the police are unarmed. And Leo has a ruthless Russian of his own in play, plus resources from Chicago. In parallel, a very pregnant Kotsi Mosadi is fully engaged keeping control of her pack and outwitting relentless lions. Within the majestic park, the interplay of predator and prey, the unpredictability of conflicting interests, and the heartlessness of the Bratva culture finally collide to upend an otherwise ordinary night on the Chobe River.

About this title

About the Author

Frederick Ramsay has published fourteen books that range from historicals (The Jerusalem Mysteries), to Africa (The Botswana Mysteries), to police procedurals (The Ike Schwartz Mysteries). In addition, his stand-alone Impulse was named one of the Best 100 Books of the Year in 2006 by Publishers Weekly. He is an iconographer and an accomplished public speaker. He lives and writes in Arizona.

Review

''A Chobe National Park ranger tangles with the Russian Mafia. ''Bodies in the park was a very bad thing for the animals,'' reflects Ranger Superintendent Kgopa Sanderson after naturalist Ole Andersen finds his favorite spotted hyena worrying a human skull. Superintendent Mwambe, of the Kasane police, is less than thrilled by her report if it requires him to leave his comfortable office to investigate. So he and Sanderson (Predators, 2010) are both happy to learn that the authorities in Gaborone are sending a team to assist. Joseph Ikanya isn't happy to leave behind a pregnant wife for the thankless job of babysitting Mwabe. But Kgabo Modise is keen on the hunt. He hopes for a chance to take down the goons from the Bratva who are infiltrating Botswana's fledgling casino industry and reunite with Sanderson. Modise's main target is Oleg Lenka, a midlevel thug whose consort, Irena Davidova, dreams of spurring him to greater wealth and power in Africa than he could have possibly attained in St. Petersburg. But Lenka's henchman, Yuri Greshenko, may provide an easier entry to the Bratva. While Anderson continues to stalk Kotsi Mosadi, the hyena pack leader known as ''Danger Woman,'' in the bush, Sanderson and Modise trail Lenka and Irena to picturesque Mowano Lodge, where the law of the jungle is beginning to gain the upper hand. Ramsay, whose series covers the globe from first-century Jerusalem to Picketsville, Virginia, makes the most of local color in his final Botswana entry. --(Kirkus)

''This final installment (following Reapers, 2011, and Predators, 2009) in Ramsay’s Botswana trilogy could have been titled Poachers. The novel begins with a disturbing view afforded some tourists crammed into a Land Rover at night—a pack of spotted hyenas circling a lioness, eager to poach her fresh kill. The leader of the pack is called Kotsi Mosadi, Tswana for Danger Woman. There'’s been more fresh kill scattered throughout the Chobe Game Park over the past few months, numerous human bodies left in the wilderness, dismissed by the authorities as “suicide by lion.” And behind these murders is another kind of poacher, members of the Russian Mafia, eager to move in on the Botswana tourist trade. This group has its own Danger Woman in the form of the head mobster’s mistress. Ramsay generates a great deal of tension throughout, with the police investigators baffled and thwarted by the Russians at almost every step. An exciting mystery, enhanced by the overarching theme of poaching, as rampant in the human world as it is among animals.'' --(Booklist)

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 146420585X
• ISBN 13: 9781464205859
• Binding: Hardcover