Stolen gems. Shady cops. Murders that could lead to an international incident. Orwell Brennan, chief of the Dockerty police force in small-town Ontario, had enough problems on his hands with the mayoral election, a daughter engaged, and, perhaps worst of all, someone in the department stealing his favourite cookies.

Things are complicated for the loveable curmudgeon: a police officer from Toronto, in Dockerty as part of a Metro murder investigation, is killed in his hotel room. And the eccentric local dance teacher, a former Russian ballet star, has some very dark secrets, unsavoury associates in her past, and a slippery way with the truth. But Brennan finds help in one of his bright young officers, who teams up with the dead cop’s brash ex-partner. Together the two women uncover a ring of shady pawnbrokers, crooked public figures, and Russian thugs all after one thing — the Sacred Ember, a very rare ruby once owned by the Tsarina herself.