The Perfect Patient: Psychological Treatment at the Snowbound Mountain Lodge

Case codename: The Blizzard Mountain Lodge Locked-Room Murder Spree The central mystery: In a snowbound mountain estate cut off from all communication, three murders occur in succession, each in a completely sealed room. Beside every body is a printed “condolence letter,” signed “The Perfect Patient.” The sole survivor, Fang Wei, a brilliant forensic pathologist with psychogenic amnesia, and Zhang Jingbai, a professor of criminal psychology who was invited at the last minute, must identify the judge hiding among the seven “fellow patients,” each with their own agenda, before supplies run out. Special setting: The estate was converted from a private mental sanatorium built in the 1970s. It contains numerous hidden structures and old ventilation ducts. All the victims were connected to a long-buried medical accident that was never made public. The killer exploits the surroundings, psychological suggestion, and an intimate knowledge of each victim’s particular fears to create locked rooms that are both physical and psychological.