THE HYDE PARK HEADSMAN

Victorian London is being plagued by a series of axe murders, and it's the job of newly promoted Thomas Pitt, now Police Superintendent, to find the killer. Three men have been beheaded, for no obvious reason, and with no apparent connection between them. Aristocratic Naval Officer Oakley Winthrop was first, his headless body found in Hyde Park, as was that of society orchestra leader Aldan Arledge. The third victim, a bus conductor, was found just outside the gates. In his 14th outing, Thomas (Farrier's Lane, p. 102) struggles to make sense of it, bedeviled by his superiors, with intimations of the powerful forces of the Inner Circle working against him (Belgrave Square). He uncovers hidden domestic scandals like wife-beating and homosexuality but, meanwhile, misses the help of wife Charlotte, preoccupied with the move to a new house, and of sister-in-law Emily, absorbed in husband Jack's MP election campaign. In the end, though, it's the ladies who succeed in wrapping up the solution that eluded Thomas. Elaborately and repetitively festooned with details of Victorian life (mostly upper-class), the story moves at a snail's pace, obscuring an equally elaborate plot and a nicely surprising finish. The same mixture as before—but more, much more of it.