- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Century; First Edition edition (3 Aug 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0712676252
- ISBN-13: 978-0712676250
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 299,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
This work reveals the name of the man the police believed to be Jack the Ripper. It includes newly-discovered letters from one of the policemen leading the original investigation into the identity of the serial killer.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Disappointing for this author.(but still 4 stars)
6 Sep 2010
Format:Hardcover
Stewart Evans is a well-known name in Ripperology circles and he is co-author of Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates which I regard as one of the best books on the subject. As such, I was very surprised to see this writer join his literary input to a book which claims a final solution to the Ripper mystery on virtually no evidence whatsoever.
The book starts with a lengthy but well-balanced overview of the murders and investigation which, while containing nothing remarkable, is probably better than many others in the market ... I especially agree with the conclusion that Elizabet Stride was not a Ripper victim. At about three-quarters of the way through the book, the focus changes to Francis Tumblety, the American quack doctor who is eventually offered up as the real 'Jack the Ripper'. There is a good review of Tumblety's exploits and adventures in the US, Canada and eventually England in 1888 where we learn that he came to the attention of the police for certain unspecified sexual offences. From that point in the book, readers cannot help but to wonder when will the authors actually introduce some scintilla of evidence that actually connects him to any of the murders. The answer, inevitably, is that they don't.
The essence of this book, is really no more than the following:
- Francis Tumblety was a very strange little man;
- He was (probably) in London at the times of the murders;
- He was arrested and released on bail for some sexual offenses and then fled the country; and,
- A senior police officer thought that he was a worthwhile subject of further investigation in connection with the Whitechapel murders.
Sorry guys... none of that is evidence sufficient enough to 'hold' for investigation, form reasonable and probable grounds for arrest, or (as this book ultimately does) definitively convict.
If Evans had simply presented Tumblety as an interesting player in the whole investigation rather than claiming a final solution (and I can appreciate how tempting that must have been after acquiring the 'Littlechild letter'), this book might well have rated 5 stars. But, he did not, and that ultimately cost him a little of my respect for him as an objective theorist.
Now ... having said all those things above, let me say that I am happy to own this book. Wrong conclusions or not, the 'Littlechild letter', and Evans's account of its provenance, is an important piece of the mosaic that is the whole Ripper 'genre'. The book is very well written and provides what I am willing to accept was well-researched histories of some peripheral aspects of the Ripper history as a whole. If you have that sort of wide-ranging interest in the whole Ripper history then I need hardly say you will want this in your 'have read' list. If all you want just a broad, objective look at the Ripper case then try Complete Jack the Ripper by Rumbelow or Sugden's The Complete History of Jack the Ripper.
The book starts with a lengthy but well-balanced overview of the murders and investigation which, while containing nothing remarkable, is probably better than many others in the market ... I especially agree with the conclusion that Elizabet Stride was not a Ripper victim. At about three-quarters of the way through the book, the focus changes to Francis Tumblety, the American quack doctor who is eventually offered up as the real 'Jack the Ripper'. There is a good review of Tumblety's exploits and adventures in the US, Canada and eventually England in 1888 where we learn that he came to the attention of the police for certain unspecified sexual offences. From that point in the book, readers cannot help but to wonder when will the authors actually introduce some scintilla of evidence that actually connects him to any of the murders. The answer, inevitably, is that they don't.
The essence of this book, is really no more than the following:
- Francis Tumblety was a very strange little man;
- He was (probably) in London at the times of the murders;
- He was arrested and released on bail for some sexual offenses and then fled the country; and,
- A senior police officer thought that he was a worthwhile subject of further investigation in connection with the Whitechapel murders.
Sorry guys... none of that is evidence sufficient enough to 'hold' for investigation, form reasonable and probable grounds for arrest, or (as this book ultimately does) definitively convict.
If Evans had simply presented Tumblety as an interesting player in the whole investigation rather than claiming a final solution (and I can appreciate how tempting that must have been after acquiring the 'Littlechild letter'), this book might well have rated 5 stars. But, he did not, and that ultimately cost him a little of my respect for him as an objective theorist.
Now ... having said all those things above, let me say that I am happy to own this book. Wrong conclusions or not, the 'Littlechild letter', and Evans's account of its provenance, is an important piece of the mosaic that is the whole Ripper 'genre'. The book is very well written and provides what I am willing to accept was well-researched histories of some peripheral aspects of the Ripper history as a whole. If you have that sort of wide-ranging interest in the whole Ripper history then I need hardly say you will want this in your 'have read' list. If all you want just a broad, objective look at the Ripper case then try Complete Jack the Ripper by Rumbelow or Sugden's The Complete History of Jack the Ripper.
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