The Sanctuary by Katrine Engberg

In The Sanctuary which is sadly Engberg’s last Korner/Werner novel, the stakes are high for both of them, the tension to solve the murder…palpable and the side plots absolutely amazing!

As Jeppe Korner has decided to take a leave of absence from the Copenhagen police force while he continues to deal with his personal issues and demons which he still cannot let go of, he decides to go to an island called Bornholm and work as a laborer.

At the same time, Esther de Laurenti, who is his long-time friend and writer has been asked to work on a biography of an anthropologist on the same island. Eshter is still reeling from a dramatic change in her life and feels the distraction of working on someone else’s life, which seems to be in letter form would be a wonderful diversion.

That leaves Korner’s partner, Anette Werner on her own at police headquarters, unable to join her family on a little vacation. She can’t believe just how much their absence affects her.

So, when a corpse is discovered in a suitcase at a playground Werner must tackle the case primarily alone. But this is a very unsettling corpse. You see, the body has been sawed in half so there is half a body in the case. Where on earth could the other part of the body be? What a gruesome way to kill someone. There must be a lot of insanity in this act. This of course makes identification very difficult. As Werner tries to locate missing persons who could possibly be the remains, the clues begin to point to the very place Korner is working.

Werner convinces Korner to assist her as a favor. Plus the fact she doesn’t want to travel to the island. Of course, once Korner begins to look for clues, he cannot stop, and Werner must join him anyway. They begin to narrow down who the dead man could possibly be, but in the process, they open up a pandora’s box of motive which goes back years.

Korner gets too deeply involved in the case, overstepping his bounds, unaware that his snooping could possibly lead him to be the next sawed victim.

With so many twists and turns, a shocking ending to the case and a wonderful farewell to these beloved characters, Engberg certainly saved the best story for last!

Thank you #NetGalley #Gallery/ScoutPress #TheSanctuary #KatrineEngberg for the advance copy.