Torsos

In 1935 - in the midst of the Great Depression - Cleveland, Ohio, was terrorized by a brutal murderer of a cleverness and persistence not seen since Jack the Ripper stalked Victorian London. The term serial killer had yet to be coined; the press called him the "Torso Slayer."By the time his spree was over, more than a dozen hacked-up and headless bodies had been found, and the Torso Slayer had earned the distinction of having become America's first truly modern serial killer.With the immediacy of true crime and the taut suspense of a gripping mystery, Torsos recreates this sensational case as a novel, starting when a naked, decapitated corpse is discovered in a desolate ravine near a downtown slum. Most of the Cleveland cops think it's another mob rubout. But Homicide Detective Hank Lambert fears it is something far worse. His fears are confirmed when a second, a third, and more bodies appear - similarly headless, some dismembered and neatly packed into burlap bags.With Cleveland gripped by panic - and a mayoral election nearing - the pressure is on for a quick solution to the Torso Slayings. Newly appointed Director of Public Safety Eliot Ness, fresh from his Chicago triumph over Al Capone, brings his "untouchable" determination to the investigation, while Hank hits the streets hunting for a connection between the victims and their murderer. He finds it in Cleveland's homosexual underground ... a world of Turkish baths, smoky nightclubs, male hustlers, and furtive grasps at forbidden love ... a world that Hank - despite his marriage and his family - knows all too well....