The Devil's mask

"The Georgian terraces are rising. In the aftermath of the abolition of the slave trade, the port of Bristol is awash with the commercial gains of the Empire. But in the midst of all the grand building projects something is rotten at the heart of the city. The first victim is discovered. News of the mutilated body spreads quickly. And as further horrifically charred corpses are found, the new streets are gripped with a primal sense of fear. The city fathers decide to step in to suppress the rising panic. An innocent is drawn into the tangled net. A lowly legal clerk with an unruly head of…