Dan Norder

Ripper Notes: The Hunt for Jack the Ripper Dan Norder

"Ripper Notes: The Hunt for Jack the Ripper" is a collection of essays about that famous unidentified serial killer and related topics. Tom Wescott's "Jack and the Grapestalk" starts things out by examining claims that victim Elizabeth Stride was holding grapes when her body was found. He compares conflicting witness statements and the testimony of doctors who examined the corpse to come to a conclusion about how the story got started. The article also reveals research into the two private detectives hired by the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee and who, it turns out, were very suspicious characters. Next Wolf Vanderlinden argues that prostitute Martha Tabram, killed less than a month before the woman generally considered the first victim of Jack the Ripper, should also be considered part of that killer's bodycount. To support this stance Vanderlinden refers to the opinions of the police officials at the time, examines witness reports and cites the research of criminal profiling experts Kim Rossmo, David Canter and Robert Keppel. Then Jennifer Pegg and updates readers on the continuing saga of altered documents, inaccurate statements and other troubling problems with the book "Uncle Jack" by Tony Williams and Humphrey Price. Other topics include little-known Ripper suspect Alois Szemeredy, the copycat murder of Jane Beadmore, the medical problems of victim Catherine Eddowes, and previously unrevealed details of court cases against suspect Dr. Francis Tumblety. Each essay is accompanied by numerous period illustrations, and the back cover features a colorful montage of images related to the Stride murder. Ripper Notes is a nonfiction anthology series covering all aspects of the Jack the Ripper case.