Patricia Cornwell

[Court Jester]

Thank you. Please forgive the double post. I thought my first post was lost so I wrote another one.

Newbie error. Mea Culpa!

The Jester

[Ally]

I do want to say that, having found this site, I feel like the proverbial kid in the candy store. What an amazing source of information and insight. What fun!

Court Jester

Savor that feeling while it lasts. Soon you'll be just as jaded and bitter and surly as the rest of us. Kidding. Welcome to the boards.

[Court Jester]

Hello! New here. I have been interested in the Ripper subject for many years and have read and own a few Ripper books. Have considered searching out a venue to discuss my interest but never took the time until now. I do not consider myself a "Ripperologist". I leave that title to others who are far more conversant in the subject.

What led me here, now, is that I had not searched out any new Ripper books for a few years and have only just read Patricia Cornwell's "Portrait of a Killer". My disappointment with this book compelled me to find a site to discuss it. So here I am - on this site and on this board.

I will not, at this time, remark upon the CONTENT of the book. I will leave that until later. I do want to comment upon the presentation. I found this book to be very disjointed and rambling. There is, in my opinion, no cohesive thought pattern. PC jumps back and forth in her time lines, plops a canonical murder in here, then talking about watermarks, then skipping to drawings/paintings, then hops to where Sickert may have been at any one time, then to the Virginia Forensics lab, now plop in another canonical murder, then talks about handwriting, then another murder (which may or may not be the Ripper), then.....

While I do not contest that PC has the right to propose a suspect and back that proposition up with research and reasoning, the least she could do is to present her findings and conclusions in a coherent way. This she has not done.

I sure picked a contentious thread to start posting! I read through the first 26 pages then decided to scroll through the last pages as I found most of the posts had degenerated into bashing other posters as well as presenting disparaging remarks about Ms Cornwell. While I am no longer a PC fan (of her fiction), I will refrain from commenting upon her person or character.

I will comment on her research and conclusions as she has put those to the public to review.

I do want to say that, having found this site, I feel like the proverbial kid in the candy store. What an amazing source of information and insight. What fun!

Court Jester

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Gman992!

Yes, indeed; had he been "practicing" with French prostitutes, that could have been a very good confirmation to Pat's conclusions!

All the best
Jukka

[Gman992]

The two authors with 'case closed' on the cover are patsie and Andrew COOK.

Both of whom appear to have decided to remove he claim.

Pirate

Actually, I just finished Andrew's book--in 2 days sitting time--no less--and it seems to offer up nothing in regards to "close closed." If anything, it is a nice little primer on the role of the tabloids--(let's face it that's what a lot of them were)and JtR. But, no definately, conclusion.

[Gman992]

Unless he went back and forth between France and England during those times, as Patty would have us believe.

If he was a killer, why did he just kill prostitutes in France? It seems a little bit of over-kill, to be on vacation in France, get the urge to kill a prostitute--go back to London of all places--(i guess young unfornunate women in English coastal towns aren't good enough for him)kill a unknown prostitute--as opposed to say an ex-girl friend, wife, some of one a little higher value to the suspect (and hence someone that the police can look to as a suspect)--then rush back to France to be there for breakfest without anyone the wiser. If the urge to kill was so great, he would've just picked some random French prostitute off of the streets. Serial Killers-organized or disorganized--don't plan that far in ahead especially when the urge to kill over takes them.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Well, if Sickert used regular route ships, etc.;

How come no-one stated to have seen him?!

All the best
Jukka

[The Grave Maurice]

According to Sturgis anyway, yes it did.

[Graham]

In Victorian times, did the Dieppe ferry (packet, I believe they were called then) dock at Newhaven as it does today?

Graham

[The Grave Maurice]

I don't know how long the whole trip would take, but Sturgis points out that Sickert would have had some travelling to do before he ever got on the boat. In 1888, there was no direct rail link between St Valery and Dieppe. The journey could only be accomplished via Rouen and took about 2.5 hours. Alternatively, there was a horse-drawn omnibus service available, but it took 4 hours.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Well, let's make it simple;

How long time did it take to travel back and forth between Dieppe and London in the LVP?!

All the best
Jukka

[The Grave Maurice]

Unless he went back and forth between France and England during those times, as Patty would have us believe.

Nope. It ain't gonna fly. Sickert was in Saint Valery-en-Caux (a little west of Dieppe) from about mid-August until early October with his mother, brothers, and a variety of house-guests. If he had disappeared for two or three days every time there was a murder in London, someone would have noticed.

[Jeff Leahy]

Hay Monstrosity

Be careful where you tread around here, you’re on a sticky wicket as they say in Blighty.

Before you go any further, I would ask myself what happened to ‘Patricia’s’ promised update?

Which I believe was due about? …well yes that was NOW

Pirate

PS Besides i feel honour bound to defend Norder's position in his absence

[JTRSickert]

Unless he went back and forth between France and England during those times, as Patty would have us believe.

[The Grave Maurice]

Read Matthew Sturgis's biography of Sickert. I don't have the book with me, but Sturgis says that Sickert was in Dieppe when the first four of the C5 were murdered. And Sickert has witnesses including, I think, Degas.