Book description
Breslau 1933: the mutilated bodies of a young woman and her ladies maid
are found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in their slashed stomach a
horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector
Eberhard Mock is called in to deal with the case, and is assigned an
assistant, Herbert Anwaldt, an orphan. The investigation leads them deep
into the city s dirty underbelly, where perverted aristocrats cavort
with prostitutes, corrupt ministers torture confessions from lowly Jews
and Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail and daggers. As Mock
and Anwaldt unravel a mystery of ritual killing that dates back to the
time of the Crusades, the elderly Mock and the young, fatherless Anwaldt
become close. But the dark, occult aspect of this most macabre of cases
might prove too much for Anwaldt s sanity before a solution is secured.
Breslau 1933: the mutilated bodies of a young woman and her ladies maid
are found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in their slashed stomach a
horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector
Eberhard Mock is called in to deal with the case, and is assigned an
assistant, Herbert Anwaldt, an orphan. The investigation leads them deep
into the city s dirty underbelly, where perverted aristocrats cavort
with prostitutes, corrupt ministers torture confessions from lowly Jews
and Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail and daggers. As Mock
and Anwaldt unravel a mystery of ritual killing that dates back to the
time of the Crusades, the elderly Mock and the young, fatherless Anwaldt
become close. But the dark, occult aspect of this most macabre of cases
might prove too much for Anwaldt s sanity before a solution is secured.