Jack the Ripper and the Case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect - Rob House

[belinda]

My copy arrived today! I'm off to read it now

[mariab]

Strange that the book came out in the US first, and not England

It was published in the US (by Wiley).

Just to clarify a bit.
It was scheduled to come out on May 3 in the US, but in fact the book was shipping about a week and a half prior to this date. The release date in the UK is a bit later for some reason (May 31), but I assume it might be shipping a bit earlier there like it did in the US.

Shoot! I should've waited a week and ordered it from the UK amazon site, it would have been a quicker delivery. Now it won't arrive before early June, at the earliest. Never mind.

There's even a first customer review on the American amazon site. Sounds like an accurate review, apart from this:
Many experts on the case have overlooked Kozminski too quickly since he was the antithesis of the typical mindset that cast the killer as prowling the foggy, gas lit streets with a top hat, swirling cape, and small doctor-style bag.
NO experts have overlooked Kozminsky, and most certainly no experts have ever expected the Ripper to have been “prowling the foggy, gas lit streets with a top hat, swirling cape, and small doctor-style bag“.

[Hunter]

I received my copy on Wednesday and have completed it today. I can see much discussion in the future here.

Even if you don't subscribe to suspect theories this is a must read because this suspect was contemporary, considered by three top officials at the time and Rob does a great job of placing it all into context.

Whether I agree or disagree with some of his deductions, this is the best suspect related book that I've ever read... and Kozminski was, arguably, the prime suspect... no matter what one thinks of Anderson.

Rob has effectively gone beyond the often sidetracking Anderson debate and offers his belief in the plausibility of Kozminski by including much more pertinent information for the reader to consider.

[mariab]

Whether I agree or disagree with some of {Rob Houe's} deductions, this is the best suspect related book that I've ever read...

Hmmm...“deductions“. Just as I thought, it appears that any tangible evidence (esp. pertaining to the police having held Kozminski under surveillance), IF any such evidence ever existed, has not survived...

Rob has effectively gone beyond the often sidetracking Anderson debate and offers his belief in the plausibility of Kozminski by including much more pertinent information for the reader to consider.

I was expecting the book to be not concentrating too much on the Anderson debate.
I guess I'll find more about the other “pertinent information“ when the book turns up, which, in my case, won't happen before June.

[Phil H]

Further Uk delay

Amazon sent me an e-mail yesterday to say that release in the UK is delayed until 3 June.

Phil

[mariab]

Yes, people on the JTRForums were complaining about this. Turns out it was not a bad idea that I ordered the book from the American amazon, after all. ;-)

[Wickerman]

So, I guess rules were made to be broken.
My rule, never buy Suspect books new, wait till they show up in 2nd hand book stores.
Generally speaking, at best they turn out to be nothing more than biographical studies with no tangible connection to the crimes.
At worst, they contain so much conjecture to make them largely worthless for serious study.

So I'm trusting yooze lot when you say this book is different and well worth purchasing.
And, because this particular book deals with an important legitimate suspect, not one invented by the author, I thought to make a exception.


Only ordered it Saturday, it arrived today .

I look forward to studying Robert's book and debating the contents, as I know we will.

All the best, Jon S.

[John Malcolm]

You may or may not be swayed to consider Kozminski as the murderer, but you will not be disappointed with the book. No fluff, no giant leaps of speculation, only an honest assessment of the most plausible suspect of the many that have been put forth so far.

[Raven]

Anxiously awaiting the book's arrival. Only studied JTR for a few years now, but always wondered why there was no definitive book on Kosminski. Very excited for it to get here and hope it's great.

[Phil H]

Arrived

My copy of Rob's book arrived from amazon-uk this morning. I went to a pizza restuarant for lunch so I could have a good browse through the pages.

It is a solid, nice-looking volume, clearly printed and logically arranged. Its a shame the illustrations are printed on the same kind of paper as the text - it never makes for clarity - but the pics are well-chosen and illuminating. Some are wholly fresh.

I am not going to review the book, but I am impressed by the work Mr House has put in, not to mention its thought. He's a lucid writer, his style is enjoyable and easy to read, and the ideas are stimulating.

The book does Kosminski, Anderson and Swanson full justice. I felt the weighing of evidence (at least on first perusal) was judicial and neither stretched points nor failed to extract full measure.

As I think the author is very much aware, there will be those here on Casebook and more widely who will neither like nor agree the conclusions he draws. Rob seems to accept that. He is never preachy and does not demand acceptance, but leaves the reader to reach his own conclusions.

What struck me as I leafed through the pages and absorbed what he was saying, was that this in a way takes us back to the position I recall when I first began seriously to read about the Ripper in the very early 70s. Then, the files were closed and the Macnaghten memorandum (at least in the Aberconway version) was only just becoming known.

As a newcomer to the subject, it seemed to me that there was an unspoken assumption on the part of authors that once the files were opened we would find a name, or a chief suspect, as the final enclosure. The objective of writers then always seemed to me in part at least, to be to work out whose that name might be.

Now Mr House seems to be taking us back to that position - there was a chief suspect, he was hinted at by Anderson, bamed by Macnaghten and recorded (in private) by Swanson - it was Kosminski. This book makes us focus on that person, and will stimulate discussion and debate, I am sure, by the excellent way in which it's author makes the case that we should take that identification seriously.

I'm sure I'll glean more as days pass and ideas soak into my brain.

For the moment, I can only congratulate Rob on his sterling work, and welcome a very important addition to my bookcase of JtR-related volumes.

Well done.

Phil

[snoo]

I just got this book yesterday and spent an evening placating my insomnia with it.

Rather than go into to much detail about the contents – which are excellent – I'd like to review the actual ePub edition of this book (bought through Kobo).

This is not a flawless ePub conversion, but it is better than average. Effort seems to have gone into it. Websites are linked properly and every endnote is not only linked but linked back to the text, which makes for a seamless reading experience. The stroked L is presented. Full paragraph quotes are delineated with a reduced left margin. Graphics and images are presented so that the in-graphic text may be read and photos enlarged and examined for detail. (Just the other day, I didn't buy an ebook I wanted because the opening map had an illegible key and street names, so this does matter.) And it has an in-book cover to match the paper cover and is well presented too.

I have a few small quibbles. For example, I'd like a bit of vertical space around blocks of quotes. Rather than present index with links, the index has been stripped of page numbers, making it just a list of subjects. (Index linking can and should be done for ebooks; as it's a time consuming process, I understand why it might be left out in favor of the search function alone.) I'd have given the photo section its own spot in the TOC file.

In spite of my quibbles, the book is obviously published with an eye toward quality. Publishing for the Kindle is its own magic box conversion problem, but I'd assume that care would have gone into that edition too, so I'd think that anyone who buys any digital copy will be truly pleased with their reading experience.

I'm enjoying my copy immensely.

[Wickerman]

This book is very well written, if this is Rob's first venture as an author he has a bright future ahead of him.

Although, as I mentioned before, this 'suspect' book is largely biographical in nature with regard to Kosminski himself and nothing specific to associate Kosminski with the Whitechapel Murders, the book does contain some new information that gives the reader a better understanding of why Kosminski was on the priority list at Scotland Yard.

Also, for those readers who are not convinced that Kosminski was Jack the Ripper (which includes myself), this book is still a must read. Any serious researcher/student of the Whitchapel Murders needs to know all that is available on the suspect which occupied so much police time and expense, regardless of any personal biase.

That said, any book on Kosminski will face the daunting prospect of being compared with this possibly flawed image of a wildeyed, drivelling lunatic who eats scraps from the gutter, how on earth could this be our cold, calculating, methodical, possibly charming, killer from the shadows?

Actually, this image was presented later than 1888 when his condition had possibly worsened, back at the time of the murders we have no clear indication of his overall condition.

Rob does not push any theory at the reader, his book is well researched, well presented, and well written. Jack the Ripper, the case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect, is required reading for the serious student of the Whitechapel Murders.

With the greatest pleasure, Jon S.

[mariab]

Also, for those readers who are not convinced that Kosminski was Jack the Ripper (which includes myself), this book is still a must read. Any serious researcher/student of the Whitchapel Murders needs to know all that is available on the suspect which occupied so much police time and expense, regardless of any personal biase.

My sentiments exactly.
Just fetched the book from the post office, I'll read it in a couple weeks (as I'm burried in work presently).

[FrancoLoco]

Rob,

The NY Post carried your byline today. Congrats!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/books/they_don_know_jack_5p2khk1CeLm3S13Ohop3HN

[Wickerman]

Rob,

The NY Post carried your byline today. Congrats!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion...eLm3S13Ohop3HN

I need to give my head a shake, I didn't realize Annie Chapman looked that good...