When a reader contacts local newspaper The Crow to report a rare
sighting of the Boreal or so-called 'Funeral' owl, the paper's editor
Philip Dryden has a sense of foreboding. For the Funeral Owl is said to
be an omen of death. It's already proving to be one of the most eventful
weeks in The Crow's history. The body of a Chinese man has been
discovered hanging from a cross in a churchyard in Brimstone Hill in the
West Fens. The inquest into the deaths of two tramps found in a flooded
ditch has unearthed some shocking findings. A series of metal thefts is
plaguing the area. And PC Stokely Powell has requested Dryden's help in
solving a ten-year-old cold case: a series of violent art thefts
culminating in a horrifying murder. As Dryden investigates, he uncovers
some curious links between the seemingly unrelated cases: it would
appear the sighting of the Funeral Owl is proving prophetic in more ways
than one.