No comments about Jack the Ripper and the East End.

No comments about Jack The Ripper.

No comments about Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper.

No comments about Jack the Ripper or When London Walked in Terror.

No comments about Sickert and the Ripper Crimes.

1 comments about Jack the Ripper: One hundred years of mystery.

1. For those interested in unsolved mysteries Peter Underwoods contribution to Ripper scholarship is a must, detailing the various suspects, possible motives and murder scenes with chilling vividness. His book contains a host of rare photographs of murder scenes, suspects and victims!. Sure to captivate those interested in unsolved crimes, a ground breaking edition already considered a collectors item.

No comments about THE LODGER; THE ARREST AND ESCAPE OF JACK THE RIPPER..

5 comments about The Diary of Jack the Ripper/the Discovery, the Investigation, the Debate.

1. I loved this book. I read if from front to back in one night. I could not put it down.



2. This is the first of three books avaiable which deal specifically with the Diary of Jack the Ripper. Although it is not the best-written book, and could have been shorter without losing impact, it presents a credible case for the diary as being that of both James Maybrcik and JTR.
   
   Although criticized by many ripperologists as a hoax, as fiction, as being "too good to be true," the most striking thing, in my opinion, is that no one has come up with any definitive proof that either the diary is fake, or that Maybrick could not have been JTR. Granted, it's not enough to be unable to prove a negative, but when you pile on all the circumstantial evidence provided by this and the two subsequent books that Maybrick and JTR are one and the same, it remains very interesting.
   
   I would have given it 5 stars for content, but style is lacking.



3. The narration is below-average, closely resembling a "what I did on my summer vacation" essay. By looking at the basic evidence in the JtR case it is obvious that this is a fake. Factor in that the guy who "discovered" it admitted it was a hoax, and hopefully no one else will waste their money on this. From the beginning of this read to the end, it smelled suspiciously of doo-doo. For a weekend armchair quarterback Jack the Ripper fan, it's a below-average read.



4. Generally there will be two extremes of ranking for this book, those who accept it as real (5 stars)and those who think it a fake (1 star). I don't accept the diary as real but Shirley Harrison does. What she puts forth in this 1998 version is her reasons and research as to why SHE thinks is authentic. Whether you 'believe' it or not is not why the book should be ranked but on the book presentation itself.
   
   The first 165 pages I enjoyed and read with interest even though I don't go for the Diary. These pages have Harrison comparing passages in the Diary to events of the times. The next section of book, roughly 170 pages is more of a biography of James & Florie Maybrick which was alright. The last section of the book is Harrison's purported findings on the Diary itself, ink & paper age being the primary focus. While the writing style is a bit dry, the 'history' of Maybrick is interesting. The biggest problem, for me, is that Harriosn goes to no other evidence other than the Diary to prove Maybrick was Jack the Ripper. Much like Cromwell's Sickert accusations, there really is no firm supporting evidence other than what they want to believe or have invested money in. It also doesn't help that the "finder" of the Diary claims they hoaxed (demented or not - and I don't think he hoaxed it either but someone did) and then some loose tangent thread that possibly the finder's wife is of an illegitimate descent of Florie, Maybrick's wife.
   
   Overall, the book presentation itself gets 3 stars and any "Ripperologist" should have it on their shelf, hoax or not. There's a very good statement in the prologue - if you go into it convinced it's fake you will never accept it; if you go into it convinced it's real you'll defend it. I recommend you read it with as open mind as you can and you'll enjoy the book much more.



5. This book will keep you reading. It is a demented tale of the perpetration of serial killings in the Whitechapel neighborhood of London, England, in 1888, supposedly confessed into a diary (kept on the pages of a photo album) by a Liverpool merchant named James Maybrick: a man whose young wife was later, in real life, tried and acquitted of charges of poisoning him to death. While it is possible Maybrick was the murderer of a number of London women in 1888, and some circumstantial evidence does link him to the cruel misdeeds, there are also hundreds of other suspects, many more likely than he. What is certain is that this "diary" is a piece of late-twentieth-century fiction composed by the person once hailed as its discoverer. (While working in the house once belonging to Maybrick, the man claimed he uncovered the volume wedged under some floorboards.) We know this because this individual has been reliably reported as admitting his hoax and even signing an affidavit to that effect. That stated, the fiction penned herein is the morbid, imaginative tale of a descent into drug addiction, madness and murder, but it is, I repeat, fiction, and deserves to be read as such, except perhaps by those who might enjoy studying a poorly-executed forgery. Might I also add I am heartily sick to death of those who glamorize whatever emotionally-retarded sexual misfit killed those women long-ago? And this book serves to do just that.

5 comments about Jack Knife.

1. In the sci-fi, historical murder mystery, it is June 2007 and a time traveler named Jonathan Avery violates the safety initiatives of the Project he works for and makes an unauthorized quantum leap killing a fellow worker in the process. Avery finds himself with amnesia in the summer of 1884 London. With the help of a local woman and some powerful scientific devices he carried with him, he begins making a new life for himself and soon rises in the social ranks to become a powerful figure. Meanwhile, back in June 2007 a woman scientist named Sara Grant and military Special Operation agent named David Elliot are given the task of traveling back to capture Avery or kill him. Avery's jump threatens the fabric of the space-time continuum. Sara and David are more the best team that could have been sent after Avery, but 19th Century London is a challenge for even them. Not only are all the social norms they are used to practically nonexistent, but Jack the Ripper is loose and at the height of his killing spree. David and Sara find an ally in a police inspector named Jonas Robb who has been given the task of solving one of the murders in his district. Through Jonas, Sara and David learn about a powerful man named Jay Osborne who has purchased most of the papers, is rousing up the common folk, and causing trouble with the elites. Even stranger is that there doesn't seem to be any historical evidence about Osborne. The company of three struggles to unravel Osborne's plans, capture Avery, and prevent any more Ripper murders from happening all before the future that Sara and David know of ceases to exist.
   I have had an interest in the Jack Ripper murders since I was a kid. The stories used to fascinate me. So, I was drawn to JACK KNIFE after just reading the cover. Virginia has done a great job of tying together the Ripper murders and connecting them to the plot of her story. The details of the events, as well as the historical accuracy of the setting, are described quite well.
   
   I have seen JACK KNIFE marketed in some stores in the sci-fi section. This is a mistake because JACK KNIFE includes very little science fiction. The time travel scenario is basically just a device that allows the story to take place and provide a bit more incentive for the characters to perform their required task. First and foremost, JACK KNIFE is a murder mystery that is full of suspense and well-developed characters. If that isn't enough to interest someone, there's also a bit of natural romance thrown in for good measure.
   
   I highly enjoyed reading JACK KNIFE. I completed the book in about three days and am looking forward to other works that author Virginia Baker might write in the future.



2. This scenario has been done to death (pardon the pun) in science fiction before, in such classics as A Toy for Juliette, by Robert Bloch, and Harlan Ellison's Prowler in the City on the Edge of the World, as well as Nick Mayer's "Time After Time". I found the book cliche-ridden and quite unoriginal.



3. Sci-fi meets historic fiction. I found the dialogue engrossing and the depth of her accuracy was astounding.



4. Don't start reading it in the evening, because you won't be able to put it down. I was up until 4 in the morning, even though I had to go to work the next day. The people in this world pull you in and at the end, you're the one who doesn't want to let go. Warning: It's not science fiction, so hard-core sci/fi fans will probably be disappointed. "Jack Knife" does involve 21st-century people going back in time to solve a long-standing mystery. But the time travel machine is just a vehicle. The real story here is the mystery of Jack the Ripper, which is downright stunning. And the interaction between the characters, especially the love story between Sara Grant--a woman with very 21st-century attitudes--and Jonas Robb, a very Victorian gentleman,is one of the highlights of the book. The other highlight is how two modern protagonists try to blend in with a time and place and culture for which they have no camoflauge whatsoever...and the sparks that fly because of those very different moralities.
   
   Whatever else this book is, it's just plain fun--a rollercoaster ride of mystery and adventure, and it more than satisfies. It pulls you into its world, makes characters into people, and then makes you care about those people. I can't wait for the sequel. There had better be one...



5. I liked it so much that I've already read it three times. It is the best, most captivating & unusual theory about Jack the Ripper I've ever read. I love all the characters, including Sir Osborne (Jack.) It has a wonderful romance as well, and by the end of the book, you wish she had continued the story to tell what happened afterward. I do so hope Baker will write a sequel to this book! PLEASE??

3 comments about Ripper Notes: Suspects & Witnesses.

1. Ripper Notes is a quarterly compilation magazine/paperback featuring articles about the infamous Jack the Ripper. This is the July 2005, Issue #23. Suspects & Witnesses is a simple and easy to read collection of essays by researchers of the Whitechapel murders. We are presented with views on the suspects Montague Druitt, Joseph Barnett, Francis Tumblety and then the much less plausibles of Claude Reigner Conder, Dr. Cream, and an article featuring a slew of various newspaper articles claiming bogus knowledge of who and where the Ripper was.
   This is the first of the Ripper Notes magazine I've read and I'll be reading more. While obviously nowhere near as in depth as a book, there are little bits of interest throughout. For the best coverage, IMO, try Sudgin's 'Complete Jack the Ripper' or the edited 'Jack the Ripper A-Z'. Regardless, this is a nice appetizer with a wide research base.



2. This magazine, by Mr. Norder has a very attractive cover, but unfortunately, that's all it has going for it. I have been interested in the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper for 3 decades now and subscribed to Ripper Notes a year ago. I was not satisfied with the articles in the magazine as they seemed to cover topics completely irrelevant to the murders. I would have preferred to see more articles based on different theories and suspects, however the writers of this Ripper magazine seem obsessed with just one theory - their own! The magazine was habitually late in arriving and when it did arrive on time, it was in poor condition. Just a word of advice, you would be better off buying Stephen P. Ryder's "Public Reactions to Jack the Ripper". He does not propose any theories of his own, just letters written to the Editors of various newspapers from panicked citizens in 1888. Much more interesting than Ripper Notes.



3. I'm only doing this to offset the totally fraudulent review by "Helen Pilon" below. You'll note that that name's only reviews on Amazon.com (so far anyway) are to hype a book by Karen Trenouth and to attack this book. If you go to Amazon.co.uk you'll see her doing more hyping for Karen Trenouth's book and attacking Stephen Ryder's book (which is odd, as she praises it in the review she posted here). Why is that? It's because Helen Pilon IS Karen Trenouth (on Casebook.org she gave her married name as Pilon, and she has said she's from Canada), and she's making revenge reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk because both Stephen Ryder (on his website) and myself (in the magazine) gave her book a bad review.
   
   Furthermore, her claims here that she was a subscriber to my magazine are completely false (no one named Helen Pigot or Karen Trenouth has ever been a subscriber, and she has admitted on various Internet sites that she's never been a subscriber), and her description of the contents of this book are also inaccurate.