Brekke, Jorgen: Where Evil Lies

The opening of this novel is set in 16th century Bergen to where an Italian monk
has travelled to collect a set of scalpels.   The scene changes to contemporary
Richmond, Virginia, where the curator of the EdgarAllan Poe Museum is found
dead.   He had been flayed with this being the primary cause of death.   At about
the same time in Trondheim, a retiring university librarian is discovered in the
locked inner area of the library similarly killed.   A celebrated manuscript, the
Book of John, bound in human skin, is missing and suspicion falls on a security
guard at the library.   Th case is given to Odd Singsaker, who has just returned
to work following a serious operation.   The similarity of the two cases is soon
recognised and Felicia Stone, a detective from Richmond, flies to Norway to
check if there is any link.
There are some chapters which return to the past without really adding to the
core of the present-day investigation.   There is a new librarian who is under
suspicion briefly because she had access to the inner area without her presence
really adding much except as a diversion.   Where the Norwegian detective is
flawed by memory loss, the American one has a relationship problem caused
by her having been raped on her Senior Prom night.   The two of them are,
however, attracted to each other.   The investigation proceeds, as seems to be
the case in most thrillers, in fits and starts but with a fair degree of realism.
The unusual, to British readers, settings add to the pleasure of this well-
constructed thriller.  While, for once, I worked out who the villain was before
his exposure the denouement was somewhat unexpected.
Overall, very enjoyable