Help with naming a book please!?

[tnb]

Hello all,

What was this book? It was the book that got me 'into' the Whitechapel mystery which I picked up when I was about 11 or 12 (so published before 94/95) but unfortunately I lost it soon after - now I'm looking into the case again in earnest, I have tried long and hard to search it out again (for nostalgia more than anything) - but it doesn't seem to be any of the 'usual suspects' (in terms of books, not police suspects!); I'm sure someone on here will have come across it though!

It was structured much like 'the complete jack the ripper' in terms of giving background, details on the murders and then going one by one through a number of suspects; it then asked the reader to choose their prime suspect before moving onto the next chapter where the author gave their verdict. The author went for Druitt, among the other suspects mentioned was Cream (who I seem to remember being spelt as Cremm but that may be just me?)

The only other thing I remember about it was a story in the blurb about the author (surely apocryphal?) making a working model of the execution of Charles I as a child. !

Any ideas?

[Rob Clack]

Sounds like 'Jack the Ripper: 100 years of Investigation' by Terence Sharkey published in 1987.

Rob

[The Grave Maurice]

I think that's right. Sounds like Sharkey to me, except, in his youth, he built a scale model of the execution of Dr Crippen, not Charlie I.

[tnb]

Ah, Crippen. That's much more normal!

Seriously though - thanks both of you for the help, as knowledgable as I knew people were on here I hadn't expected it so quickly. Very impressed.

From what I remember of the book, and reading into the case on here and elsewhere since, I have come to think of it as being pretty shoddy research-wise, if either of you have read it with a bit more knowledge at the time would you say that's a fair assessment?

That said for nostalgia if nothing else I'll definitely get myself a new copy of it.

Thanks again.

[The Grave Maurice]

I imagine that the book's production was rather rushed in order to coincide with the centenary in 1988. Perhaps because of this it has more than its share of errors. On the other hand, it's far from being the worst book on the subject. It's somewhere in the middle of the pack, I'd say, and certainly worth reading.

[ChrisGeorge]

Sounds like 'Jack the Ripper: 100 years of Investigation' by Terence Sharkey published in 1987.

Rob

Hi tnb

Maybe you'll remember the cover:

http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media.../100years.html

Chris

[tnb]

that's definitely the one! The cover on the left-the less ridiculous one!-is the one I had.
Thanks for all the info. The most frustrating thing about this book that I remember was that in the Druitt section the author made a LOT of fuss about how the train times from blackheath (and I'm not opening that can of worms!)made his candidacy almost impissible,but then picks him as the 'top' suspect and glosses completely over his own criticisms.To a teenager naively eager to pick the 'right' suspect (if I knew then.x..!) that was quite galling! his

[ChrisGeorge]

that's definitely the one! The cover on the left-the less ridiculous one!-is the one I had.
Thanks for all the info. The most frustrating thing about this book that I remember was that in the Druitt section the author made a LOT of fuss about how the train times from blackheath (and I'm not opening that can of worms!)made his candidacy almost impissible,but then picks him as the 'top' suspect and glosses completely over his own criticisms.To a teenager naively eager to pick the 'right' suspect (if I knew then.x..!) that was quite galling! his

Hi again tnb

Glad to help.

I have the one with the ridiculous cover, ha ha.

I regard the Sharkey book more as a collector's item than as a serious study of the case. Moreover, of course, it has been vastly surpassed by much better books since those heady days of the Centennial of the Whitechapel Murders in 1988.

Chris

[tnb]

Well done Chris for managing to decipher my garbled message - I often have a virtual 'flick' through the casebook boards on my mobile if I'm bored during a break at work, but that was the first - and last! - attempt at writing a message on it. Qwerty keyboard is all well and good but when you can't scroll down and so have to type half of your message without seeing it, and then it deletes your last line anyway, the result is...well, you've seen.

No point stating the same things again just better, I will add that the line that got deleted was that something about the book seems to have stuck as I do still have a 'soft spot' for Druitt as named suspects go.

Anyway, just wanted to point out that I do not usually end posts halway through and mis-punctuate all over the shop, I guess this is the end of this thread now; shame, I've actually quite enjoyed this discussion! See you all elsewhere soon enough...

Seems strange that such a 'minor' book and one casebook even says is not recommended for beginners should have grabbed me so much and got me into the case, maybe I'm just odd.