Ceremony in Scarlet — Francis John Thornton

In turn-of-the-century Philadelphia, vagrants were being viciously murdered in a bizarre sacrificial rite. At first, the police paid little attention. Then more and more corpses began turning up -- this time being dumped on church grounds. Under pressure from city officials, the police were only too glad to enlist the aid of Dr. Ian Blakeley, former Scotland Yard detective and pathologist. Confident, cheerful and cerebral, Blakely little realized the the trail of victims would lead him from the slums to the most elegant Main Line mansions.