The Bank Holiday Murders by Tom Wescott (2014)

[Ginger]

Belated congratulations on your book's awards! They're well-deserved!

[DVV]

Ordered.

[Tom_Wescott]

I just wanted to post and say thank you to Tom for getting me back interested in the Ripper case. About 12 years ago as a 15/16 year old I became extremely interested in them because of From Hell. I spent about a year reading the Complete JTR and other books (though you can imagine the conversation trying to explain to a mother about wanting a JTR book).

Like any teenager I got distracted with other things, college, life, and moved on. Until I stumbled upon Tom's book on amazon, though I have no idea how and decided to see what new things have been discovered in 12 years.

I was not prepared for such a thoroughly researched and enjoyably written book. At times I was almost sad that Tom did not include more of his opinion because I felt his train of thought made logical, believable sense in almost every case (with a few exceptions of course).

The book relit my interest so much that I've now been thoroughly consumed with reading over the forums and listing to old podcasts.

I suspect I will be mostly a lurker on the forums and will spend far more time reading than writing, but I just wanted to say Thank You to Tom for reigniting the case when I least suspected it.

Hi Dane, thanks or the very kind and humbling post. I'm extremely gratified to hear that you enjoyed the book. Welcome to the Casebook!

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

Belated congratulations on your book's awards! They're well-deserved!

Thanks, Ginger. I'm please to announce that I submitted my book to three different book awards, hoping to snag a spot in one, and placed in all three, including top honors or Best True Crime book with Indie Reader.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

Tom's book reminds me of basic scientific research. The vast majority of most scientists who aren't at genius level (no offense, Tom), find an area of interest and then intensely study a very small part of that area.

Thanks, Barnaby, but I think my approach was actually the opposite of what you describe. In Ripperology, as opposed to science, a book taking the 'basic' approach would follow the tried and true plot of a chapter a victim, a generalized look at the police investigation, a potted history of LVP East End, and then a roll call of suspects. I did the polar opposite.

I also don't think Ripperology can be compared to science, because little is absolute. For instance, I support my arguments on police reports and press reports. Somebody wrote these things, that's for sure, but were they correct? Did I interpret them correctly? There's a lot of moving parts to this case and we'll never have all of them. But as I've mentioned elsewhere, you don't need all the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle to be able to look at it and see what it is.

Tom is probably wrong

Based on the pessimistic premise that all the authors before me were wrong therefore I must be as well? Maybe. I'm almost certainly wrong on some things, but I'm almost certainly not wrong on all of them. That's why I figured I should publish it. The things I'm not wrong about are important.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[DVV]

I'm fascinated by the early murders, and I already know I will enjoy it.
I've been elsewhere for months, and yesterday Dave (Cogi) sent me the review he has written on Amazon.
Bravo Tom.

[Barnaby]

Hi Tom,

I added the "Tom is probably wrong" part because otherwise it would appear even more sycophantic than it already reads.

I didn't mean to imply Ripperology is science. But, like science, you studied something systematically and made tentative data-based conclusions. You are quite correct, unfortunately, in that your data aren't direct observations. So the analogy ultimately breaks down. But there's good historical research and sloppy historical research and this is good, which was ultimately my point.

[DVV]

Hi Tom,

I got the book today and was so pleased to see there was a chapter dedicated to John Satchell, and another to Emily Horsnell.
I read them quickly. And btw, if I'm allowed a critic, your book deserved an index.
So far, I didn't find any mention of Annie Millwood, although she was dossing in one of Crossingham lodging houses (ie : one of "Satchell's connections").

Why did you choose to ignore her ? (If indeed you did, I've only read two chapters.)

[GUT]

I read them quickly. And btw, if I'm allowed a critic, your book deserved an index.

Yes Tom my one complaint too.

[Cogidubnus]

Me too...and it has to be said that this is the first time I ever gave five stars to an unindexed book...but it was SO thought-provoking....

If Amazon had truly honest decimal points then Helenas work would be 5.0 and Tom's 4.9 - fair enough?

In the event it really doesn't matter..for hugely different reasons they're both really great books..

Cheers

Dave

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi everyone, the Kindle edition of my book will be 99 cents on Amazon.com as of June 10th and for two days after. It's already that price at Amazon.co.uk. If you don't already have it on Kindle, snap it up. You don't need a Kindle device to read it (although it's handy). Any kindle book can be read on a computer or cell phone.

Amazon.co.uk: http://tinyurl.com/bankholidaymurders

Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/bankholidaymurders2

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[GUT]

G'day Tom

Hi everyone, the Kindle edition of my book will be 99 cents on Amazon.com as of June 10th and for two days after. It's already that price at Amazon.co.uk. If you don't already have it on Kindle, snap it up. You don't need a Kindle device to read it (although it's handy). Any kindle book can be read on a computer or cell phone.

Amazon.co.uk: http://tinyurl.com/bankholidaymurders

Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/bankholidaymurders2

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Do you mean July 10th?

[Tom_Wescott]

Do you mean July 10th?

Oh Lord. Yes, July 10th. Thanks GUT. Also the 11th, and possibly the 12th.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[GUT]

Still want $8,84 here and we can't buy from UK or USA

[DVV]

99 cents

So this funny "99" bizness strategy is still working.
There's a famous French novel about it : "99 francs".