The house of books and shadows

Luise Helm and Johann von Bülow once again interpret Kai Meyer's narrative world with their distinctive, compelling voices. Bestselling author Kai Meyer creates a masterful blend of historical crime novel and bibliophilic horror story.

Baltic region, just before the outbreak of World War I. Deep snow and endless forests isolate a manor from the world. Here, young editor Paula Engel travels from Leipzig to review the manuscript of the writer Aschenbrand. Paula and her fiancé Jonathan encounter a fascinating eccentric who harbors a dark mystery.

Leipzig, 1933. In the legendary Graphic Quarter, the Nazi-dismissed Commissioner Cornelius Frey saves a girl's life. As they part, she whispers, "They all cry in the cellar without stairs." The next night, she is found murdered next to a dead policeman. Following the trail of the murderer, Cornelius fights his way back into his old profession and uncovers a web of occultists and conspirators, Freemasons and fanatics. What connection did they have to Paula and Jonathan, who vanished without a trace in the Baltic region twenty years ago?

After the success of "The Library in the Fog" and "The Books, the Boy, and the Night," Kai Meyer once again tells of the secrets of the Graphic Quarter, the misty heart of the book city Leipzig.