Tangled Web UK Review December 2000
The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook by
Stewart Evans
hbk out October 00
Published by Constable & Robinson
at £25
This hefty tome, which runs to almost 700 pages, is the latest in the never-ending flow of publications about the Whitechapel murders. The authors have researched the case for several years and their previous works include ‘The Ripper Legacy’ and ‘Jack the Ripper: the first American serial killer’ (the latter is not perhaps one of the likeliest true crime titles). Their aim in this volume has been to collect together a mass of material such as the original reports from Scotland Yard, many witness statements, lost files, press coverage and, inevitably in a Ripper book, photographs, some of which are rare.
The criticism often made of books about Jack the Ripper is that they are overly sensationalist and sometimes grotesquely prurient. This book is, however, a serious and worthwhile supplement to studies of the case, which will interest many of those who have sought not only to identify the culprit but also to examine police procedure and social mores of the late Victorian era. Perhaps because it is not unduly sensationalist, it is not a light read and the relentless accumulation of procedural material is likely to weary the casual browser. The title is, of course, over-optimistic, like the titles of those books which claim to have found a ‘final solution’ to the case. Because the Ripper murders have acquired a mythic significance, there will never be a final explanation of the case or an ultimate collection of materials associated with it. But genuine researchers are likely to find a good deal in this book which contributes to the endless debate about the Ripper.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the Harry Delvin Mysteries)
