Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert

Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert

Patricia Cornwell

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

From New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell comes Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, a comprehensive and intriguing exposé of one of the world’s most chilling cases of serial murder—and the police force that failed to solve it.Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art—as well as extensive evidence—points to another name, one that’s left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material—including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause—and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.Incorporating material from Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed, this new edition has been revised and expanded to include eight new chapters, detailed maps and hundreds of images that bring the sinister case to life.


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  • bookdarling
    Jan 04, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    I think that you have to be a super-fan of forensics to really enjoy this book. I think she proves her point. The person who probably really was the Ripper sounds awful and by the end of the book I was very, very tired of reading about him. Cornwell's histories of poverty and gender relations as they interfered with anyone's ability to see who the killer could be was interesting. I got a lot out of the book AND I was glad when it was over.

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