Jack the Ripper and the Case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect

An investigation into the man Scotland Yard thought (but couldn't prove) was Jack the Ripper. Dozens of theories have attempted to resolve the mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper, the world's most famous serial killer. Ripperologist Robert House contends that we may have known the answer all along. The head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department at the time of the murders thought Aaron Kozminski was guilty, but he lacked the legal proof to convict him. By exploring Kozminski's life, House builds a strong circumstantial case against him, showing not only that he had means, motive, and opportunity, but also that he fit the general profile of a serial killer as defined by the FBI today.

The first book to explore the life of Aaron Kozminski, one of Scotland Yard's top suspects in the quest to identify Jack the Ripper, combines historical research and contemporary criminal profiling techniques to solve one of the most vexing criminal mysteries of all time. The book draws on a decade of research by the author, including trips to Poland and England to uncover Kozminski's past and details of the case. Includes a Foreword by Roy Hazelwood, a former FBI profiler and pioneer of profiling sexual predators. Features dozens of photographs and illustrations. Building a thorough and convincing case that completes the work begun by Scotland Yard more than a century ago, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know who really committed Jack the Ripper's heinous and unforgettable crimes.

Review: Jack The Ripper - The Policeman by Rod Beattie

Synopsis: Imagine you were a police officer and had been dominated as a child by an abusive mother who didn’t really want you and as an adult had been served bastardy orders twice, firstly by a woman in whose house you lived and then by a woman you had a relationship with.

Then, to top it all after you had become a police officer in another city you arrested a woman you thought was a prostitute, whose subsequent actions caused you to be accused of perjury and you ended up in court at the Old Bailey. Although you were found not guilty, it ruined your career and left you seriously in debt and though you were still a policeman you were taken off the streets and assigned to a menial job guarding a museum.

As a police officer you were in a perfect position to take revenge on those people you thought had ruined you, prostitutes.

This book contains the complete reason Jack the Ripper came to be. It sheds new light on the mystery of the killer. After all, who is going to suspect a policeman going about his daily duties of being one of the world’s most infamous serial killers.

In this addition to the Ripper library, author Beattie posits his own thoughts on who Jack the Ripper could have been. In this instance, his prime suspect is a policeman, of dubious antecedents, by the name of Bowden Endacott.  And suspects a plenty have been suggested in the past of the list provided by Wikipedia is anything to go by - yet police office was not mentioned.

Beattie says that "... a police officer is the only person who could have walked the streets at night knowing that he would not be questioned or suspected of being the killer ...".  In fact, this is a most plausible scenario.

His reasons for putting forth Endacott as his suspect are numerous and include factors of his childhood (a domineering mother and possibly, unwanted as being one of her last children); his being a compulsive liar; dubious police career which culminated in the "Cass Case" of 1887.

Beattie then put forward that in addition to the five traditionally accepted Ripper victims, that at least one, if not more victoims could be attributed to him - whilst at the same time, suggesting that Stride was not one of the five.  Beattie also suspects that Endacott had an accomplice, possibly a doctor or at the very least, another man.  Again, this is a reasonable assumption, regardless of the true suspect and was worthy of more study.

Unfortunately, Beattie offers no real conclusive proofs - in fact, his case could literally have been made for any police officer who walked the beat at that particular time.  Endacott just had more notoriety due in no part to the Cass Case and his consistent and blatant lying.  Beattie failed to convince me that Endacott was the most plausable suspect.

What I would have preferred is more substantial proofs against Endacott to convey Beattie's argument or at the very least, for Beattie to have developed and put forth a more-detailed case built around the potential of a police officer being the suspect.

Review: People of Abandoned Character by Claire Whitfield

Synopsis: Marry in haste . . . Murder at leisure?

London, 1888: Susannah rushes into marriage to a young and wealthy surgeon. After a passionate honeymoon, she returns home with her new husband wrapped around her little finger. But then everything changes. Thomas's behavior becomes increasingly volatile and violent. He stays out all night, returning home bloodied and full of secrets. The gentle caresses she enjoyed on her wedding night are now just a honeyed memory. 

When the first woman is murdered in Whitechapel, Susannah's interest is piqued. But as she follows the reports of the ongoing hunt for the killer, her mind takes her down the darkest path imaginable. Every time Thomas stays out late, another victim is found dead. Is it coincidence? Or is her husband the man they call Jack the Ripper?

To think I nearly gave up on this. It wasn't quite holding my fascination at the beginning, but the premise promised so much that I continued on. And OMG! What a finish! About halfway through things start to move - think gothic fiction along the lines of "Gaslight" and "Rebecca" and you'll know what you are in for. 

Just as Alice was led down the the rabbit hole by the White Rabbit, so Whitfield leads the reader through the crime-ridden sordid streets of Victorian Whitechapel, an area of overcrowding and abject poverty. It was a city of doss houses, sweatshops, abattoirs, overcrowded slums, pubs, a few shops and warehouses. Although described as “terra incognito for respectable citizens", it was a place were the wealthy gentlemen "slummed it" and the well-heeled ladies got their daily crime fix by visiting the scenes of horror (from the deplorable living conditions to the crimes scenes of the Ripper).

Women within Victorian society were entirely at the mercy of the men who dominated their lives: first, their fathers and brothers would control them when they are still young and when they are married, their husbands. Marriage was considered very essential and significant for the sake of the stability of the society. Women were therefore expected to be very obedient and submissive in order to have a happy and stable marriage. Women were not supposed to divorce; they were expected to live with their husbands even if it meant to live in miserable marriage.

Women thus began to perform duties outside their homes. This meant that they would cook, nurse and educate young people for a pay. Nevertheless, a woman was only supposed to work as long as she was not married, but once married, she was expected to stop working and take up her role as a wife and mother.

It wasn't until the 1880s that educational opportunities and institutions opened up to women to continue with their learning. Whereas prior to this, an educated woman was not considered attractive nor marriageable material. At the same time, women attained more legal rights with the establishment of more movements and acts. The married women property act allowed married women authority over their own properties. Her property was hers and not her husband’s. 

When Nurse Susannah Chapman marries wealth doctor Thomas Lancaster, little did she know what she was getting in for - yes, marry in haste, repent in leisure is very apt. With no family of her own and isolated from her friends, Susannah finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage. Husband Thomas becomes this Jekyll and Hyde type character, and when the Ripper murders start, Susannah slowly connects the dots, coming to a horrifying conclusion that could end in her own death. 

For a first novel, this is gripping stuff - as I said, I nearly gave up on it early on in the piece, but the scene was just being set with a bit of retrospective narrative - it will make sense as you near then end. And I especially loved the narrative ascribed to the Ripper's victims. The ending .... you know its building up to something, however, the something that we get is far for expected! It is almost noirish by definition. 

This and Elizabeth Hill's "Killing The Girl" have to be two of my favourite crime reads for this year.