André Bjerkes grøssende gode og vittige mordermysterium, der psykoanalytikeren kai Bugges innsikt i det menneskelige sinns gåter leder frem mot avsløringen av en bestialsk knivmorder.

Deep in the darkest part of the Norwegian woods stands Dead Man's Cabin, the site of tragedy a century earlier when Tøre Gruvik, in a fit of madness, murdered his sister and her lover, beheading them and throwing their corpses in a nearby lake before drowning himself to join them in death. Ever since, it is said, anyone who stays at the cabin is possessed by Gruvik's spirit and driven to drown themselves in the lake. What's more, Gruvik's restless ghost has been seen by many of the local people, prowling the woods by moonlight. Bjørn Werner, a young writer from Oslo, ignored the old superstitions and rented Dead Man's Cabin as a quiet spot to finish his book. Now he has disappeared, and the evidence suggests he threw himself in the lake in a fit of madness. The police write it off as a suicide, but his friends are not so sure. Kai Bugge, Bjørn's psychiatrist, believes in the suicide explanation, while private detective Harald Gran thinks it's a case of murder, and Gabriel Mørk, an expert in the occult, is certain that darker and otherworldly forces are at play. They travel to unravel the mystery of their friend's terrible fate, but not all of them will return alive from their stay at the Lake of the Dead ... André Bjerke's The Lake of the Dead (1942) was voted the all-time best Norwegian crime novel, and its atmospheric 1958 film adaptation is regarded as one of Norway's best films. This new translation is the first-ever American publication of Bjerke's classic, which features an unusual mixture of murder mystery and supernatural horror that will keep readers guessing until the thrilling conclusion.

Til ethvert kriminalmysterium hører en nøkkel, og i dette tilfellet er den et eneste enkelt og tilsynelatende uskyldig lite ord. Husnøden har tvunget en gruppe unge mennesker til å bosette seg i en hytte i Nordmarka. En av dem er konsulent for et forlag, og en diktsamling han får med å gjøre, viser seg å ha betydning for løsningen av mysteriet.

En ung mann forsøker å gjøre den gamle Kapergården om til hotell. Men så begynner det å skje uhyggelige og mystiske ting. Det oppstår en så stemning så nifs at det reisler og går kaldt nedover ryggen på en. Her er overtro og svart magi og døde menn i dryppende oljehyrer. Og hele tiden er spenningen på topp.