The Lake Toplitz Code
(2026)(The third book in the Expatriate Mystery series)
A novel by Courtney Hargrove
Dead mountains, dead lake…
What lies beneath Austria’s deep, dark Lake Toplitz? This legendary location nestled in the Dead Mountains is believed to be one of the hiding places for billions of dollars in Nazi gold. It holds secrets and treasures no one has been able to bring up despite doomed searches that have killed unlucky fortune hunters for decades.
Until now.
When a colleague in the Switzerland office of an international bank emails Abigail Prince a series of mysterious account numbers shortly before she’s due to fly from New York to Zurich, a chill runs down her spine.The accounts are not something she’s supposed to see. They’re the stuff of myth, of rumor, of legend. Buried in history, never to see the light of day.
Officially, these account numbers do not exist in the world of Swiss banking.
As Abigail realizes it might be safer not to leave New York, her phone rings.
The caller says two words.
Then the phone goes dead.
With that call, a chain of events is set in motion that will take Abigail and a colleague at breakneck speed from Zurich to Salzburg, from Lake Como to Zermatt, and, ultimately, to Lake Toplitz, all while being hunted by a Swiss bankers’ secret society with seemingly limitless resources. Headed by her own bank’s CEO, the clandestine organization was formed shortly after World War II to cover up and profit from dormant Holocaust accounts. The group will do anything to protect the money they believe is rightfully theirs.
And Abigail is in their crosshairs.
THE LAKE TOPLITZ CODE follows Abigail as she searches for proof that Swiss banks were colluding with the Nazis to hide bank accounts left dormant by thousands of people who perished in Hitler’s death camps.
Abigail is running out of time to make the connection between the accounts and Hitler’s dumping ground, Lake Toplitz.
Will she do it? And will she survive it?
Find out in spring 2026.
Genre: Thriller
What lies beneath Austria’s deep, dark Lake Toplitz? This legendary location nestled in the Dead Mountains is believed to be one of the hiding places for billions of dollars in Nazi gold. It holds secrets and treasures no one has been able to bring up despite doomed searches that have killed unlucky fortune hunters for decades.
Until now.
When a colleague in the Switzerland office of an international bank emails Abigail Prince a series of mysterious account numbers shortly before she’s due to fly from New York to Zurich, a chill runs down her spine.The accounts are not something she’s supposed to see. They’re the stuff of myth, of rumor, of legend. Buried in history, never to see the light of day.
Officially, these account numbers do not exist in the world of Swiss banking.
As Abigail realizes it might be safer not to leave New York, her phone rings.
The caller says two words.
Then the phone goes dead.
With that call, a chain of events is set in motion that will take Abigail and a colleague at breakneck speed from Zurich to Salzburg, from Lake Como to Zermatt, and, ultimately, to Lake Toplitz, all while being hunted by a Swiss bankers’ secret society with seemingly limitless resources. Headed by her own bank’s CEO, the clandestine organization was formed shortly after World War II to cover up and profit from dormant Holocaust accounts. The group will do anything to protect the money they believe is rightfully theirs.
And Abigail is in their crosshairs.
THE LAKE TOPLITZ CODE follows Abigail as she searches for proof that Swiss banks were colluding with the Nazis to hide bank accounts left dormant by thousands of people who perished in Hitler’s death camps.
Abigail is running out of time to make the connection between the accounts and Hitler’s dumping ground, Lake Toplitz.
Will she do it? And will she survive it?
Find out in spring 2026.
Genre: Thriller