Deadlier Than the Pen by Kathy Lynn Emerson

Diana Spaulding is a widowed theatrical columnist trying to survive in the scandal-fueled journalistic world of 1888 New York City. Her editor assigns her a story on horror-author Damon Bathory, whom he suspects of murdering two female journalists. Diana faces danger from a deranged artist, a matriarch with a warped sense of humor, a traveling acting troupe—and the elusive Bathory himself. Historical Mystery by Kathy Lynn Emerson; originally published by Pemberley Press