Danger Woman: A Botswana Mystery

Ramsay’s third mystery set in Botswana (after 2010’s Reapers) tries too hard to mirror its human story line with a subplot featuring the country’s animals. One night in Chobe National Park, Ole Anderson, an expert on hyena behavior who’s leading a group of trustees from the foundation that funds his research, spots a human skull after witnessing a group of hyenas chasing off a lone lion. Ole brings the grim discovery to park ranger Sanderson, now superintendent of her district, who has been dealing with a “rash of deaths, bodies, and/or their separated parts appearing in her park.” Kgabo Modise, her policeman friend from Gaborone, believes the bloodshed to be the product of the plans of the Russian gang the Bratva to expand their influence into the country. The Bratva are led by Irena Davidova, a sex-trafficking victim turned master manipulator, who’s the danger woman of the title. (The female leader of the hyena pack is also dangerous.) Modise and Sanderson’s efforts to thwart Davidova lack suspense and plausibility. (July)