Philadelphia, 1907
In this sequel to Dance in a Madhouse, Owen Townsend and Inspector Ed Brumbaugh confront an even more perilous challenge. Philadelphia is being terrorized by someone who maims his victims. Eyes are gouged out. Organs are removed. A corpse with evidence of illicit surgery is found in the river. Who would prey on the unfortunate to take pieces of their bodies? What is the purpose of the crimes? As they search for the man they call the cutter, their quarry’s megalomaniacial quest is revealed in chilling scenes that take readers into his lair.
Owen is a young doctor who has had his own brush with madness. Working with Brumbaugh, a canny detective who has wounds that won’t heal, he digs deep into the mind of the cutter and engages him in a Dance on the Edge.