Patricia Cornwell

[Celesta]

I did read her fiction, up till the niece was grown, and for some reason, I just lost interest. Not sure why.

[perrymason]

Patricia Cornwell is an accomplished and at times quite good fiction writer.

Best regards all.

[Cap'n Jack]

Dear old Pat, and Andrew, are classic examples of writers whose egos have become so over-inflated with success that they believe they can solve the biggest murder mystery in the world at a single stroke.
It's a fair game, done it myself, but while they fall I fly.
Two fingers at 'em in my slip stream.

[prowling cat]

Celeste, you are so right, it's the niece (K.S.'s, not P.C.'s, of course) that made me go off the novels. Pity, they were rather, no, very good at the start:
Cheers,
Gabs

[prowling cat]

Dear old Pat, and Andrew, are classic examples of writers whose egos have become so over-inflated with success that they believe they can solve the biggest murder mystery in the world at a single stroke.
It's a fair game, done it myself, but while they fall I fly.
Two fingers at 'em in my slip stream.

excuse my ignorance, Cap'n, who is Andrew?
Please be patient, I'm a foreigner.

[Jeff Leahy]

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

[prowling cat]

Thank you Cap'n.
In italy we say: Non dire gatto finché non ce l'hai nel sacco! Don't say cat until it's in your sack!
Don't boast of anything, unless it's already in your bag...
A good point in this case...

[Uncle Jack]

I have a lot of respect for Patricia, her research and her book, which was very readable in my opinion. I do not think that Patsy has solved the case for a second but I think Sickert is a far more sensible suspect than others mentioned, such as William Gull, Prince Eddy etc.

[Uncle Jack]

Stop defending a fraud

I think calling PC a "fraud" is going a bit too far. If I was defending her, I would be agreeing with her belief that Sickert was the Ripper, which I don't. I am just saying she gets a lot of crap thrown her way which is undeserved. OK, she says things that people don't agree with but she doesn't deserve to be ridiculed. She has her opinion and that is that. We all do.

[Monty]

I disagree Adam,

She has made a decent claim for Sickert as a letter writer but she hasnt put the knife in his hand.

She has altered facts to fit the suspect, a prime error.

Her 'case closed' claim was outlandish enough and it is a wise move to retract that. However, what is just as foolish is the statement that Grieve made upon her evidence. That he would have been more than happy to present this evidence to the CPS. An outragous statement as she has provided not one piece of factual evidence to support Sicket as Jack.

The CPS wouldnt even have taken it to court let alone try and get a result from it.

Monty

[Celesta]

Adam,

I didn't mean to sound as if I was ridiculing. She does catch a lot of guff. I read the book at least twice, so obviously I liked it at the time. In fact, I don't dislike it. I just found myself wishing, now and then, that she would get to some of her points by a straighter path, which is why I said it felt a bit like a novel sometimes. I agree that Sickert is a more sensible suspect than some of the others. He was a strange bird. Patricia really intrigued me with the guest book from the lodge. I'd like to see more about that, as well as about the letters. She intrigued me enough that I pay attention when I come across something about Sickert. I saw her presentation on C-span, and I was impressed with what I saw as a righteous rage against the Whitechapel murderer.

She fired up my interest in the cases, more than they had been, so I don't dismiss her. I did read a number of her books, so I must have liked her then.

[halomanuk]

OK,i have been watching this and it does coincide with a (slightly early by 15minutes) Friday poll,so lets put this to the test this week..watch the threads comining up peeps.

[Khanada]

I would agree that calling her a fraud is going too far.

Beyond that, I have to just state that while her book was pleasantly readable, it jumped to conclusions -- like all books that start with a suspect and then look at the facts of the case that remain to us. You just can't fit someone up like that and not make missteps.

At most, I feel that she's made a decent suggestion that Sickert may well have written a hoax letter or more. This is, of course, a far cry from actually being Jack the Ripper. Some of her "facts" are just nonsense -- like the painting that supposedly looks so much like Miss Mary Jane's so-infamous photograph.

Basically, I really wish she had written her book as yet another one of her fictional crime tales. I'd be less annoyed by it by far, and she'd certainly have caught less flak.

[Moriarty]

Thank you for the kind remarks, but I must make a few comments. I think that quite a few of Patricia Cornwell's problems arose from the fact that she came onto the 'Ripper scene' very late in the day and then proceeded to point out the flaws in previous work on the case and made the claim that she had actually solved it. Combine this with the copious factual errors in her book and her fantastical claims about the letters and, well...

The subject of 'personal attacks', whatever that may mean, is a subject that should be avoided by anyone not directly involved or who does not know the nature of this aspect. For 'personal attacks' in Ripperworld have been so described when only simple criticism or disagreement is involved. It is often difficult to honestly critique a writer's work without receiving accusations of personal attack, animosity or simple 'sour grapes.' It is the nature of the beast and cannot be avoided. Some authors have been downright dishonest and should expect all they receive in return. But egos and reputations are involved here so it is a contentious and volatile area.

Apart from the occasional 130 year old poster, I'm guessing that most of us here came onto the "Ripper scene" pretty late in the day.

[Uncle Jack]

Like I say, I do not agree with her conclusion that Sickert was the Ripper but I respect the road she tried.

As others have said, staing "Case Closed" on the book title was bold and should never have happened. Maybe it was case closed in her mind but not in anyone else's unfortunately