The Devil’s Ribbon

A cholera outbreak plagues 1858 London in Meredith’s lively if often gruesome second historical featuring forensic professor Alphonse Hatton and his assistant, Albert Roumande (after 2010’s Devoured). At the same time, Fenians fighting for Irish home rule are committing terrorist acts across England. In London’s squalid St. Giles neighborhood, home to many impoverished Irish, firebrand Father O’Brian is stirring up riots. When Gabriel McCarthy, MP, hated by his fellow Irish as “the appeaser of Highgate” for compromising with the British, is poisoned in his fashionable home, his radical brother and heir, Damien, becomes the prime suspect. A series of vicious killings follows, with every victim found to have a bright green ribbon stuck in his throat as a sinister warning from extremist Fenian “Ribbonmen.” Hatton joins forces with flamboyant detective Jeremiah Grey to investigate, though the professor is distracted at times by the murdered MP’s alluring widow. A chaotic chase leads to a startling climax. (Nov.)