Sleeping Dogs Lie

The tranquility of a sleepy Winnipeg morning is shattered by a grisly discovery. Salaciously posed on the steps of a Wellington Crescent mansion, a young woman grins menacingly, a sadistic welcome to those who might discover her. The pool of blood that surrounds her, however, leaves no doubt as to her fate. And she isn't the first. The crime bears striking similarities to a previous case, five years earlier, which still haunts those charged with its resolution. There can be no question that a serial killer is on the loose, and the prairie town, oft cited as the murder capital of the country, is on the alert.

It falls to Detective Zelig Belinski, a long-time member of the WPD, to head up the investigation and, as it is he who is plagued by his failure to solve the original crime, it comes as part blessing, part curse. Belinski and his team are baffled by one clue in particular, a word scrawled in lipstick at each of the crime scenes, one that will prove pivotal in the final apprehension of the killer.

This case, which may well define his career, takes Belinski to a number of local haunts and brings him into contact with many of the characters that make his city the extraordinary place that it is. And although, for Belinski, it is always a question of justice, in this instance, it is also a question of the true meaning of the word.