In Richmond, Virginia, the shockingly flayed corpse of the curator of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum is discovered in his office; while in Trondheim, Norway, a library archivist's similarly flayed body is found inside a locked vault. As Richmond homicide detective Felicia Stone and Trondheim police inspector Odd Singsaker join forces in their comparable investigations, they find both cases are closely connected to The Book of John, a 16th-century journal believed to have been written by a serial killer in Norway. The manuscript is known as a palimpsest, a piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing, but of which traces of the earlier writing remains. And the material used to bind the books was human skin. As more clues are uncovered in these two unique, gruesome killings, even more questions arise. Felicia and Odd make a good team as the killer is finally brought to justice.

WHERE MONSTERS DWELL was a bestseller in Norway for debut author Jorgen Brekke, and it's obvious why. With a compelling cast of characters and the clever use of complex plot devices, Brekke gives readers an extraordinary murder mystery that's impossible to put down.

Book Summary

A murder at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, bears a close resemblance to one in Trondheim, Norway. The corpse of the museum curator in Virginia is found flayed in his office by the cleaning staff; the corpse of an archivist at the library in Norway, is found inside a locked vault used to store delicate and rare books. Richmond homicide detective Felicia Stone and Trondheim police inspector Odd Singsaker find themselves working on similar murder cases, committed the same way, but half a world away. And both murders are somehow connected to a sixteenth century palimpsest book-The Book of John-which appears to be a journal of a serial murderer back in 1529 Norway, a book bound in human skin.