Savage Magic by Lloyd Shepherd
From the author of The English Monster comes Savage Magic, a brilliant new historical thriller, a riveting tale of villainy, madness and murder.
Covent Garden, 1814: a centre of vice to which rich and poor alike are drawn by the promise of gin, ale and other carnal diversions. In opulent private rooms, several fashionable young men have been found murdered, each wearing a satyr's mask, each behind a locked door.
Constable Charles Horton of the River Police Office is called in to investigate and soon finds himself at Thorpe Lee House in Surrey, where accusations of witchcraft have swept through the village. What connects those London aristocrats in pursuit of pleasure and a country backwater suddenly awash with folklore and talk of burning witches? In this strange, captivating world, it is a savage magic indeed that holds its victims in its thrall.
Covent Garden, 1814: a centre of vice to which rich and poor alike are drawn by the promise of gin, ale and other carnal diversions. In opulent private rooms, several fashionable young men have been found murdered, each wearing a satyr's mask, each behind a locked door.
Constable Charles Horton of the River Police Office is called in to investigate and soon finds himself at Thorpe Lee House in Surrey, where accusations of witchcraft have swept through the village. What connects those London aristocrats in pursuit of pleasure and a country backwater suddenly awash with folklore and talk of burning witches? In this strange, captivating world, it is a savage magic indeed that holds its victims in its thrall.