The unsolved murder of a respected doctor sends shockwaves through the residents of the still young city of New York. Who has extinguished the life of this honorable man with a knife wound on the midnight street? The publisher of New York's first and only newspaper dubs the monster "the Mask Carver," only adding more fuel to the flames of this unresolved mystery. When the Mask Carver demands a new victim, young court attendant Matthew Corbett is lured into a maze of forensic clues and dangerous inquiries that awaken both his investigative talent and his sense of justice. Strangest of all, however, is that the information needed to unmask the Mask Carver may be found in an insane asylum ruled by the "Queen of the Damned" - and only someone with Matthew's intellect and empathy can navigate it.