Straight into Darkness

The New York Times-bestselling "master of mystery" delivers a riveting novel set in 1920s Munich, a city stalked by a nameless, barbaric butcher (Cleveland Plain Dealer).

Lustmord—the joy of murder. The terrifying concept seems apt for the brutal slaying of a beautiful young society wife dumped in the vast English Garden. Homicide inspector Axel Berg is horrified by the crime . . . and disturbed by the artful arrangement of the victim's clothes and hair—a madman's portrait of death.

Berg's superiors demand quick answers and a quick arrest: a vagrant, the woman's husband, anyone who can be demonized will do. When a second body is discovered, the city erupts into panic, the unrest fomented by the wild-eyed, hate-mongering Austrian Adolf Hitler and his Brownshirt party of young thugs.

Berg can trust no one as he relentlessly hunts a ruthless killer, dodging faceless enemies and back-alley intrigue, struggling to bring a fiend to justice before the country—and his life—veer straight into darkness.

"[An] ambitious historical mystery, in which politics, prejudice, and revenge form the backdrop for murder . . . As for Berg, he is one of Kellerman's richest creations—an intriguing protagonist, flawed yet compassionate and heroic, forced to confront enormous odds in brutal times." —Booklist