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[caz]

I should qualify this statement.

Anne claimed that she helped Barrett (with the notes, the typescript, etc.) because she thought it should be a professional job---despite saying elsewhere that she didn't want the diary published and also stating their marriage was such that she & Mike couldn't collaborate. One of many contradictions.

Her statement that she thought "Doreen would just send Mike packing" was her mindset when Barrett took the diary to London in April 1992.

I think Anne's statements could make sense and be reconciled if she first saw the diary in March 1992 and simply didn't think it was likely to be genuine, and suspected Mike had nicked it from somewhere. Double trouble ahead when Mike insisted on taking it to London. He did say - for what that's worth - that he asked "Tony" what he was playing at, as if he initially assumed this was all some sort of joke, and it is after all what most people would have asked on seeing such a book signed Jack the Ripper down their local, so I can see why Anne would have been equally sceptical at first sight. Hoping Mike would try to write a ripping yarn based on it would make sense in that context, because it certainly doesn't follow that she'd have believed it to be genuinely written by the killer nicknamed 'Jack the Ripper', and that would explain why she assumed nobody else would take it seriously either. Doreen's interest in seeing it might have been good news to Mike's ears, but an unwelcome surprise to Anne if she had her own doubts about its origins. Her hope could have been that Doreen would share her scepticism and send Mike packing without investigating the diary or its origins.

Most people might only have known about JtR as a Victorian murderer who was known by that name because he was never caught. The Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer of the 1970s reminded people that a letter had been sent in 1888 signed 'Yours truly Jack the Ripper', which was widely considered to be a hoax, along with a host of similar letters.

In this context, I can see Mike bringing the diary home in March 1992 and thinking: is it a joke or could it be real? Anne's first thought would have been where the hell did Mike get it? It couldn't have been authenticated by anyone, or the whole world would have known about it, so was it just another ripper hoax, which could have been in someone's private collection, and had possibly been stolen along with other similar curiosities? It would explain Mike's inability to tell her where it came from and also Anne's own reservations about him contacting Doreen. Anne would have no reason to believe it was written by the killer himself, but the story Mike told Doreen put a different slant on it. If a friend had given him the diary without appreciating what he had and had never tried to find out, then it could in theory turn out to be an important new discovery and worth investigating.

I can't see Anne thinking along similar lines if she suspected it had been nicked and its rightful owner would soon miss it and report the theft.

[caz]

It's been some time since the little red diary has been discussed. What's your latest theory as to the reason why Mike ordered it?

I'll get back to you, if I may!

Love,

Caz
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