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

[Tom_Wescott]

Rob House's book is perhaps the first 'necessary' suspect book since Evans/Gainey 16 years ago.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Critteranne]

This is my first post, although I have been reading various threads for the past few days. I want to thank the posters here for this thread. I was in the Borders with a really good coupon -- 40% off or 50% off or something ridiculous like that. I decided to try something different. Then I saw this book on the shelf. Yay, a Ripper book that looked good.

At first, I hesitated. I know there are some horrid Ripper books out there. (I reviewed one for history class and got an A. ) Then I remembered 1) free WiFi in the store and 2) Casebook.org. So I got on-line (on my Nook Color, of all things), looked up the book on Casebook, and read this thread. That helped me decide to buy it -- and warned me away from the Graysmith Ripper book, too.

I also bought Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia a few days later, with another coupon. Even though I have a few other general Ripper books (which I unearthed from the basement recently).

[jason_c]

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

Jane Russell, ripper victim.

[FrancoLoco]

Well, it IS the New York Post, after all. When I saw the caption "One of his victims, Annie Chapman, in life and after her murder," I thought...geez, it must have been cold in that yard!

[Hunter]

LOL...

I'm not sure if Mary Kelly looked that good.

Its been hard to overcome the image of a man in a top hat and cloak stalking the foggy streets of London... let alone the real possibility that this killer was not cunning in his pursuits... but rather very lucky in the chances that he took.

It makes one ponder about the earlier, unsuccessful, attacks on women in the area... and the murders of Smith and Tabram... maybe even McKenzie.

[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...

[FrancoLoco]

Rob,

The NY Post carried your byline today. Congrats!

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

[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).

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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. ;-)