What is the worst Ripper book you've ever read?

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  • timsta
    Cadet
    • Jul 2008
    • 14

    #121
    I think I'll reserve judgement until I see Powell's steaming pile of nonsense.

    Timsta

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    • Pippin Joan
      Constable
      • Oct 2008
      • 80

      #122
      What an interesting thread! Did no one have the same reaction as I did to "Light-Hearted Friend"? Sheesh! It made me want to go wash my hands every time I put it down. The whole business with anagrams for Lewis Carroll's writings said heaps more about the author than about Carroll. I tried to imagine the time he spent working out obscene anagrams and got thoroughly creeped out.

      Stephen Knight is close to the bottom of my list, a complete prat on many subjects. A sign of my fanaticism was my Jack the Ripper Loo in my last apartment. I put all my JTR books, pictures, etc. in the downstairs lavatory for the amusement of guests. They would noticeably spend a considerable length of time in there. I was often asked which ones were good or not, and I would point out that Knight was only there because it was vaguely on the subject.

      Like someone else on here, Tom Cullen's Autumn of Terror was my first Ripper book, too. I read it in 1968, when I was 16. It scared me to death and got me totally hooked on JTR. Funny how coinciding events meld together -- while reading the book, the song "Sealed With a Kiss" played, and even today if I hear it, I'm transported to 1888 Whitechapel.
      Joan

      I ain't no student of ancient culture. Before I talk, I should read a book. -- The B52s

      Comment

      • George Hutchinson
        Inspector
        • Feb 2008
        • 1089

        #123
        ^ Joan, wasn't there some anagram Wallace made from one of Dodgson's writings naming Mary Jane Kelly, but the poem itself was actually written years before we presume she was born?

        PHILIP
        Tour guides do it loudly in front of a crowd.

        Comment

        • Bailey
          Detective
          • Jul 2008
          • 290

          #124
          Originally posted by George Hutchinson View Post
          ^ Joan, wasn't there some anagram Wallace made from one of Dodgson's writings naming Mary Jane Kelly, but the poem itself was actually written years before we presume she was born?

          PHILIP
          No doubt, Sir Phil, this is why she picked that particular pseudonym to hide her real identity so we couldn't find any record of her 120 years later

          B.
          Bailey
          Wellington, New Zealand
          hoodoo@xtra.co.nz
          www.flickr.com/photos/eclipsephotographic/

          Comment

          • SaucyJacky
            Cadet
            • Oct 2008
            • 3

            #125
            Paticia Cornwell's book was the first book I ever bought after a visit to the London Dungeon's a couple of years ago and enjoyed it quite a bit when I read it.
            Since then I've read better books (Begg, Sugden, Rumbelow) and never even opened Cornwell's again. it's collecting dust on the shelf.

            Luckily I can still enjoy some Jack the Ripper related things eventhough I know the theory is rubbish like the Hughes brothers "From Hell" movie (I don't have the graphic novel) for instance

            Comment

            • Mike Covell
              Superintendent
              • Feb 2008
              • 2957

              #126
              The Graphic novel of "From Hell" is really well done, it is well presented, quite dark, and has footnotes and references. It is quite a heavy read, and in equally graphic, both in terms of the gore factor, and sexual contents, but it is worth getting.
              Regards Mike

              Comment

              • dmcdonald@onwight.net
                Cadet
                • Aug 2008
                • 45

                #127
                Originally posted by Bailey View Post
                Hey Debbie

                Well, I was thinking of the dreaded trinity I read recently of Murder & Madness, Prince Jack and Death Of a Prince. I doubt you'd have much hope of coming off worse than those ones! However, I'm sure you're very interesting Your book is on my must get list... long list, tho, so it make take a while.

                B.
                I think you will find it much more 'sensible' than those other books - and all based on fact (Stephen's mother's diary, Eddy's hospital data, info re his relationship with Tennyson's daughter in law, info from the Royal Archives and much more). So hope you will enjoy it.

                Regards
                Debbie
                Last edited by dmcdonald@onwight.net; 11-02-2008, 07:41 PM.
                Deborah McDonald
                Author: 'The Prince, His Tutor and the Ripper'

                Comment

                • Bailey
                  Detective
                  • Jul 2008
                  • 290

                  #128
                  "Sensible?" Forget it then...

                  B.
                  Bailey
                  Wellington, New Zealand
                  hoodoo@xtra.co.nz
                  www.flickr.com/photos/eclipsephotographic/

                  Comment

                  • Veritas
                    Cadet
                    • Apr 2008
                    • 30

                    #129
                    The worst book Was the Stephen Knight book.

                    Comment

                    • Simon Wood
                      Commissioner
                      • Feb 2008
                      • 5551

                      #130
                      Hi Veritas,

                      Originally posted by Veritas View Post
                      The worst book Was the Stephen Knight book.
                      But still the most compelling.

                      We continue to argue its merits [or lack thereof] thirty-something years after publication.

                      Regards,

                      Simon
                      Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

                      Comment

                      • The Grave Maurice
                        Premium Member
                        • Feb 2008
                        • 1674

                        #131
                        Originally posted by Veritas View Post
                        The worst book Was the Stephen Knight book.
                        Veritas, you're a Liar. (Latin joke).

                        Admittedly, there was much wrong with Knight's book; but, despite its flaws, it is not completely without merit. It was Knight who unearthed Israel Schwartz's testimony, Sgt. Stephen White's report on his interviews with Matthew Packer, Abberline's report on Mary Ann Nichols, and a police copy of the Goulston Street graffito. Knight's fanciful theory also helped reawaken interest in the Whitechapel murders, and the reaction to it led to a great deal of new, and far more accurate, research. Those of us interested in this subject owe at least a small debt of gratitude to Stephen Knight.

                        Comment

                        • DVV
                          Suspended
                          • Apr 2008
                          • 6014

                          #132
                          Originally posted by The Grave Maurice View Post
                          It was Knight who unearthed Israel Schwartz's testimony.
                          I have Rumbelow's "fully revised and updated" edition (2004), and still there is no mention of Schwartz. (I don't mean it's the worst ripper book I've ever read, of course!)

                          Amitiés all,
                          David

                          Comment

                          • Fisherman
                            Cadet
                            • Feb 2008
                            • 23676

                            #133
                            I´m not sure, but my hunch is that Roland Marx book "Jack the Ripper and the Victorian Nightmares" is the worst book ever to have plagued the realms of Ripperology.
                            The reason I can´t be totally sure is that I have never been able to finish it - I fall asleep long before I´m halfways whenever I give it a try.

                            The best, all!
                            Fisherman

                            Comment

                            • DVV
                              Suspended
                              • Apr 2008
                              • 6014

                              #134
                              Ah, Fish,
                              I can't miss this opportunity to agree with you!
                              What a boring book, both pretentious and empty.
                              There is more about the Ripper in Caesar's "Guerre des Gaules"!

                              Amitiés,
                              David

                              Comment

                              • Sam Flynn
                                Casebook Supporter
                                • Feb 2008
                                • 13322

                                #135
                                Originally posted by DVV View Post
                                I have Rumbelow's "fully revised and updated" edition (2004), and still there is no mention of Schwartz.
                                Knight certainly mentions Schwartz and his testimony - from memory, there's even a chapter entitled "Lipski!".
                                Kind regards, Sam Flynn

                                "Suche Nullen" (Nietzsche, Götzendämmerung, 1888)

                                Comment

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