Book Recommendations

[Herlock Sholmes]

Cheers c.d. it sounds good. The Killers Of The Flower Moon is a cracker.

[c.d.]

Hello Herlock.

Glad you are enjoying Killers of the Flower Moon. If you like David Grann, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon is also really good.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-City-of-Z-David-Grann-audiobook/dp/B001U2MTK6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2A8DLEZORJHZT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.r_h4leITi17_vZ23n7JY1tMaR7eLpWoUy5aEgFRXHTK4hqpxPKbuAuThRMUOAyeRjoPRlNn_mAVldCx0OlF1OJ11tmG02buJxoGOYOHhfU1yvMkwZI5M0Lxnfl67Pp3KwjuXXb-jVEI7medwHFGd5o0p1wDi7U8_6Ye4L3lVkonxtQaxfgrHiVtcrideYS3sOeHQy8DAa1RWBdjPumXKU3R5LeNAL0-Mc5WB0cEKzrQ.ghOpRg_JbbiuoSQdctFX2d9fJ98qDrUJ7_1KOsNnUaI&dib_tag=se&keywords=lost+city+of+z&qid=1729873201&sprefix=lost+ci%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hello Herlock.

Glad you are enjoying Killers of the Flower Moon. If you like David Grann, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon is also really good.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-City-of-Z-David-Grann-audiobook/dp/B001U2MTK6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2A8DLEZORJHZT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.r_h4leITi17_vZ23n7JY1tMaR7eLpWoUy5aEgFRXHTK4hqpxPKbuAuThRMUOAyeRjoPRlNn_mAVldCx0OlF1OJ11tmG02buJxoGOYOHhfU1yvMkwZI5M0Lxnfl67Pp3KwjuXXb-jVEI7medwHFGd5o0p1wDi7U8_6Ye4L3lVkonxtQaxfgrHiVtcrideYS3sOeHQy8DAa1RWBdjPumXKU3R5LeNAL0-Mc5WB0cEKzrQ.ghOpRg_JbbiuoSQdctFX2d9fJ98qDrUJ7_1KOsNnUaI&dib_tag=se&keywords=lost+city+of+z&qid=1729873201&sprefix=lost+ci%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1

c.d.

Hi c.d.

I finished Killers of the Flower Moon a while ago but I forgot to mention it. I’ll add the other two to my ever increasing list thanks.

[c.d.]

Hello Herlock,

I know fiction is generally not your cup of tea but Before We Were Yours (which I reviewed earlier) is really exceptional.

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I think that it maybe time to stop buying ripper-related books. I saw a book advertised over on JtRForums called Jack the Ripper: Dissecting the Truth by Roger Barber. I recognised his name because many years ago I bought a book called Who Was Jack The Ripper: A Collection of Present Day Theories and Observations from Camille Woolf’s Grey House Books. For those who haven’t seen the book, it was a collection of theories where each writer/researcher had a few pages to propose their theories (with a photo). Lots of well known names, Begg, Fido etc. The first 100 were signed and cost more I believe. I paid for a non-signed one but got sent a signed one by mistake which ended up worth well over £100. Sadly, a few years ago I was really short of cash so I sold three ripper books for around £250-300 (I think) and this one was one of them (the others were a Leonard Matters and a copy of The Killer Who Never Was by Peter Turnbull [worth £150 now]). If only… there’s a signed one on sale at Loretta Lay Books for £425!

Anyway, one of the theories was by a guy called Roger Barber. He’d had his theory in Criminologist (which I don’t have) and it was that the ripper was a marine stores man who committed suicide by almost cutting his own head off called Edward Buchan. Roger Barber, now retired has written a book, and I bought it. Let me say straight of…I’m by no means saying that this is a terrible or badly written book because it isn’t. (The forward is by Stewart Evans btw - who I believe was one of the writers in Who Was JtR) The problem comes because I did what I often find myself doing with ripper books these days. I skim through the first part of the book because, like everyone on here, I don’t need to be told about how terrible London was, or how the murders occurred. I’m not blaming the author by any means because it’s a necessary part of a book but, after paying £12.99, I’ve just found myself skimming past 152 of 173 pages. This means that I’ve only read £1.57 out of a £12.99 book.

And Buchan? My thoughts are the same now as they were then. There’s absolutely nothing to connect him to the murders.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hello Herlock,

I know fiction is generally not your cup of tea but Before We Were Yours (which I reviewed earlier) is really exceptional.

c.d.

That one sounds good. It’s on my list but I did mention it to friend who was looking around for something to read so I’ll have to find out if she got it. She certainly intended to.

[c.d.]

That one sounds good. It’s on my list but I did mention it to friend who was looking around for something to read so I’ll have to find out if she got it. She certainly intended to.

If she did, please let me know what she thought of it. Thanks.

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

If she did, please let me know what she thought of it. Thanks.

c.d.

Will do.

[Lewis C]

I think that it maybe time to stop buying ripper-related books. I saw a book advertised over on JtRForums called Jack the Ripper: Dissecting the Truth by Roger Barber. I recognised his name because many years ago I bought a book called Who Was Jack The Ripper: A Collection of Present Day Theories and Observations from Camille Woolf’s Grey House Books. For those who haven’t seen the book, it was a collection of theories where each writer/researcher had a few pages to propose their theories (with a photo). Lots of well known names, Begg, Fido etc. The first 100 were signed and cost more I believe. I paid for a non-signed one but got sent a signed one by mistake which ended up worth well over £100. Sadly, a few years ago I was really short of cash so I sold three ripper books for around £250-300 (I think) and this one was one of them (the others were a Leonard Matters and a copy of The Killer Who Never Was by Peter Turnbull [worth £150 now]). If only… there’s a signed one on sale at Loretta Lay Books for £425!

Anyway, one of the theories was by a guy called Roger Barber. He’d had his theory in Criminologist (which I don’t have) and it was that the ripper was a marine stores man who committed suicide by almost cutting his own head off called Edward Buchan. Roger Barber, now retired has written a book, and I bought it. Let me say straight of…I’m by no means saying that this is a terrible or badly written book because it isn’t. (The forward is by Stewart Evans btw - who I believe was one of the writers in Who Was JtR) The problem comes because I did what I often find myself doing with ripper books these days. I skim through the first part of the book because, like everyone on here, I don’t need to be told about how terrible London was, or how the murders occurred. I’m not blaming the author by any means because it’s a necessary part of a book but, after paying £12.99, I’ve just found myself skimming past 152 of 173 pages. This means that I’ve only read £1.57 out of a £12.99 book.

And Buchan? My thoughts are the same now as they were then. There’s absolutely nothing to connect him to the murders.

Barber appeared in a recent Youtube video on Richard Jones channel. As I remember it, Barber took an approach he call psychological profiling. The Ripper attacked the wombs of women, the place where birth takes place, and Barber killed himself on his birthday, the anniversary of the day that he emerged from a womb. It was also the day of Mary Kelly's funeral, and the outpouring of grief supposedly might have affected him. The timing of his death fits well with the end of the murders, if Kelly was indeed the last. Also, Lawende thought the man he saw looked like a sailor, and his job or his father's would have given him easy access to sailor's clothing. And Barber believed JtR couldn't have sex and therefore wouldn't have had children, and Buchan didn't.

I don't see any reason to believe that he couldn't have been the Ripper, just not much reason to think that he was.

[c.d.]

Just finished Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara (Book 1 of 2). An historical novel about events leading to the Declaration of Independence and the ensuing Revolutionary war against England. Covers all the major characters involved like John Adams, Sam Adams, Franklin, Washington, British General Gage and others. Being a novel you get a sense of their thoughts, feelings, strengths and weaknesses so that they come across not just as historical figures but real flesh and blood people. A really good unfolding of how this all came about.

Shaara is best known for his Civil War Series which is excellent but this was really good as well. Recommend.

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Rebellion-Novel-American-Revolution/dp/B085JR7R17/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GYURB41GWNBL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.li25SI1Uya5EuBQY3DEF88YpA6moJkesmWgQTqxUNL0Q4d53j260qjt4Xr2uLlyd-6raCZscre6EnSEw9GPiDB5M_W5amybpCX4ZRubuXqQrlAr0MRUHcY7ihZDIA5uCYRZV1kaovqzvEU8GG-jrkS1ANoZtj9CpgNKqYjYtBp14wImO2gM03fKOyy3neJyeV-PI-2TbiUAeosuzUNaGcg.T3P4gf744VsjMStWlKa4q4J6Z9TtMTcI31RVDElrV0I&dib_tag=se&keywords=rise+to+rebellion+by+jeff+shaara&qid=1736257608&sprefix=rise+to+re%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-1

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I just finished reading Carroty Nell by John E. Keefe (revised second edition) (Kindle) I don’t know why I didn’t get this book when it first came out but I saw it by chance recently on Amazon and bought it (on a Christmas Amazon voucher) for £7.63. I wasn’t sure when I first saw it but I was encouraged by positive comments from Paul Begg and good Amazon reviews from How Brown and Tom Wescott. It’s well worth getting. A general re-telling of the other murders followed by a detailed, well-researched view of the Coles murder and the investigation into Thomas Sadler. This is followed by a look at a few of the suspects with no conclusion offered but the author feels that both Mackenzie and Coles were ripper victims though.

Recommended.

[Duran duren]

I just finished reading Carroty Nell by John E. Keefe (revised second edition) (Kindle) I don’t know why I didn’t get this book when it first came out but I saw it by chance recently on Amazon and bought it (on a Christmas Amazon voucher) for £7.63. I wasn’t sure when I first saw it but I was encouraged by positive comments from Paul Begg and good Amazon reviews from How Brown and Tom Wescott. It’s well worth getting. A general re-telling of the other murders followed by a detailed, well-researched view of the Coles murder and the investigation into Thomas Sadler. This is followed by a look at a few of the suspects with no conclusion offered but the author feels that both Mackenzie and Coles were ripper victims though.

Recommended.

I have the book as well, it's just on the waiting list.