Jack the Ripper
The Jack the Ripper case has never been solved - the killer remains a blood-spattered silhouette. Although 'Jack' as an entity was almost certainly invented by an unscrupulous journalist, he became an archetype - decked in the top hat and cloak of a Victorian melodrama villain, stalking the fog-wreathed streets of the old East End. The numerous Ripper theories which emerged at the time tell us more about Victorian attitudes than they do about the killer's true identity.
In Jack the Ripper the authors follow the grim homicidal trails that have permeated popular culture since the Whitechapel murders of 1888. It tells the victim's stories in all their desperate poignancy, and explores the theories and suspects of the burgeoning field of 'ripperology'. Conspiracy theories and myths that swirl around the case to this day, from black magicians to the royal family, are considered, as is the modern forensic view of the Ripper murders as sex crimes, with reference to disturbing modern cases such as that of the 'Plumstead Ripper'.
Terrifying and unignorable, this is the ultimate book on Jack the Ripper.
Paul Woods, editor and author, has worked on a diverse range of subjects. As a true-crime buff, he was the first to gain access to tapes of Fred West for a TV documentary series, edited the memoir of wrongly accused Colin Stagg, and wrote a 'mondo' retelling of psycho killer Ed Gein's story. His recent work relates to US legal scandals and Gothic culture.