From Script to Screen - story ideas @Phil

Set in the 1800s, a makeup artist of a theatre House begins a killing spree.
Motive? - mistreated at the theatre?, insane?, no one would suspect?
The artists method of killing involves “tattooing” the victims bodies
This would either be killing them and leaving a brand on them or intricately cutting the victims that they look like tattoos.                  
This would then lead to them being named “the tattoo artist” in a Penny dreadful. A detective inspects the victims bodies with a magnifying glass. The brand or cravings would then lead the detective to narrow his investigation down to someone at the theatre either because it’s distinct to the theatre House or because it resembles some of the artists make up work. The final stand off between the detective and the murderer would be in the theatre.

A travelling theatre group performs in different towns, but at night once the performances are over they go out and rob the local area and then move onto the next town or city. Each one has a section of a tattoo which all together make up a whole tattoo. A detective hears about the strain of robberies and investigate, inspecting each scene with a magnifying glass. The detective finds a poster from the group in each town and catches on to them. He now has to try and stop them at their next performance.