Across the platform, unseen by both Newbury and Amelia, a figure emerged from a recess by the ticket office. He was dressed in a black suit, and bore a distinguishing scar across his lower jaw, puckering his bottom lip. Within his pocket he clasped a dagger in his fist, its blade hewn from a shard of human femur, and around his throat he wore a necklace fashioned from the finger bones of the sacrificial victims he had killed with that very weapon.
He watched Newbury and Amelia as they boarded the immense train. Then slowly, purposefully, he crossed the platform, clambered up onto the shuddering vehicle, and located his own cabin.
Soon the Cabal would have their revenge against Sir Maurice Newbury, and he, the Keeper of the Blade, would reclaim for his brothers what was rightfully theirs. Not only that, but in so doing so he would be granted the honour of adding two further totems to his collection. His power, and his standing, would increase amongst his brothers.
The man’s hand strayed unconsciously to the string of bones around his throat, and he smiled.
NEWBURY AND HOBBES
WILL RETURN IN
THE REVENANT EXPRESS
NEWBURY & HOBBES INVESTIGATIONS BY GEORGE MANN
The Affinity Bridge
The Osiris Ritual
The Immorality Engine
The Executioner’s Heart
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GEORGE MANN is the author of four Newbury and Hobbes investigations, starting with The Affinity Bridge, as well as the stand-alone adventure Ghosts of Manhattan. He edited The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction anthology series and a number of fiction and nonfiction books, including The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Sexton Blake, Detective, a retrospective collection of classic Sexton Blake stories. He maintains a blog at http://georgemann.wordpress.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE EXECUTIONER’S HEART: A NEWBURY & HOBBES INVESTIGATION
Copyright © 2013 by George Mann
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Jamie Stafford-Hill
Cover art by Viktor Koen
Edited by Liz Gorinsky
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Mann, George.
The executioner’s heart / George Mann.—First edition.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-2776-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-4490-8 (e-book)
1. Newbury, Maurice (Fictitious character)–Fiction. 2. Hobbes, Veronica (Fictitious character)–Fiction. 3. London (England)–History–1800-1950–Fiction. 4. Steampunk fiction. I. Title.
PR6113.A546E94 2013
823'.92—dc23
2013006323
e-ISBN 9781429944908
First Edition: July 2013