Death in the Devil's Acre, by Anne Perry

(pb; 1985: seventh book in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt series)

From the back cover:

"When a doctor is found brutally murdered in the lurid section of London aptly named 'Devil's Acre,' even its most hardened residents are stunned. But shock soon turns to mroe bodies with the same gruesome 'calling card': a stab wound in the back and a rather inexpertly executed mutilation...

"As Pitt and his wife Charlotte race against time to find the killer, a treacherous mystery unfolds. And no one, not the lowest brand of ruffian or the most established aristocrat, will come out unscathed."


Review:

After Pitt starts investigating the murder of a well-to-do doctor in a dangerous slum (called "Devil's Acre"), he discovers that the doctor wasn't the killer's first victim. It seems that the killer's first victim was Max Burton, a seductive footman-turned-pimp (from Callander Square). Not only that, but more victims -- bearing the same wounds and mutilations -- are appearing, the details of their sordid sanguineous deaths splashed in newspaper headlines.

Unputdownable, this rush of raw Victoriana -- one of the best entries in Perry's Pitt series, with a fresh sense of physical danger and a Paragon Walk-like finish.

Preceded by Bluegate Fields.

Followed by Cardington Crescent.