The Complete Jack the Ripper

Donald Rumbelow is the true expert on Jack the Ripper. He approaches this case with an unbiased view of the murders and suspects. His deductions are based on whether the evidence fits the suspect not making the evidence fit his pet suspect. He also does an excellent job of debunking many of the more far fetched theories and suspects.I have the hardback of his first edition of this book and formed a lot of my ideas about the case from that book. When I read other articles or books on the case, they did not seem as sound as authoritative as Mr Rubelow's book. I was thrilled when I saw this update and bought the Kindle edition.He has expanded the book to include more material especially his analyses of recent theories. He does not disappoint with the update.While Mr Rumbelow has his own suspect, he admits that we will not likely ever know the true perpetrator. Too much time has passed, all the witnesses and investigators are dead, a lot of evidence was lost or destroyed over the years, and forensics of the time were not as developed as a science with police officers specially trained in the field as they are today. Crime scenes were not secured and methods for chain of custody are not as rigorous as they are now either.I am not so sure about Montague Druitt and think his suicide was coincidental with the cessation of the ripper crimes. Sexual serial killers tend to target prostitutes because they make easy targets. The very nature of their work puts them in harms way every time they get in a car or go with a customer. They tend to be heterosexual but highly misoginitic when women are their targets. The mutilations suggest that this is the case. Serial killers also have a pattern of collecting "trophies" of their crimes so they can relive the experience, hence the missing organs or personal items that were obviously taken.There has been a claim that one of the victim's shawl was found with DNA but the provenance of the shawl and DNA testing results have been called into question.I strongly recommend this for anyone who likes reading about true crime or is an amateur ripperologist.

This was the first book I picked up when I became interested in unsolved true crime, especially unsolved murders. It's still the book I judge all the rest of them by. Rumbelow examines the atmosphere of the late industrial revolution in London and the wretched poverty that existed in the districts where the crimes occurred. Rumbelow then takes his time to examine each murder in detail, who discovered the body, testimony from passers by, descriptions of the injuries to the body, and exactly how the body and possessions nearby were found. As well as taking time to describe what was known about the life of the victim. He follows up each case with an escalating tension as police desperately attempt to apprehend the criminal. Climaxing with the final, most brutal murder. Then as the Ripper vanishes the book settles in to looking into all the possible subjects that had been accused or since discovered through academic research on the murders. Rumbelow remains impartial describing which suspects could have most likely to have been the Ripper based on known facts and presumptions about their lives from later sources. Ruling out lesser known candidates because of a lack of fact based evidence. Ultimately and wisely Rumbelow refuses to declare the case closed by fingering a candidate for the Ripper. This case is so interesting because with the use of early an early police force on this crime there are tons of original records, and most importantly photographs. In the end we know so much about the crime scenes and the evidence, but lacking forensics we know nothing about who the killer could have been, making it possibly the greatest unsolved crime in history.

I had always heard about Jack the Ripper but was never really that interested until I saw a documentary on tv. Rumbelow is widely considered to be the leader in 'Ripperology' as they call it. He does a good job with the opening of the book, giving us a visualization of Whitechapel London in the 1880's. From there he goes on to describe the 5 victims in detail as to how they were killed and includes others who may or may not have been Ripper victims. The longest section of the book is dedicated to various suspects and his theories as to why they are or aren't Jack the Ripper. A slight warning to the queasy: he does include actual photographs of the prostitutes that were murdered. As of this writing, this is the latest edition and in the foreward he mentions his changes: He has eliminated a suspect, he makes an argument that Liz Stride was not a Ripper victim, and he has included a never before seen photograph of the man he believes to be Inspector Abberline. A fascinating read. I hope to make it to London someday as Rumbelow offers a Jack the Ripper tour.

This is not a book that hands a verdict on who Jack the Ripper was. What it does is go back to the details of the murders. And I do mean details. If you want to put aside myths and tales that have sprung up on this historical figure then this is the book for you.

I didn't know if I would like this but I got it anyway since I haven't read Rumbelow before. Alot of this is the usual fare about the murders but it also addresses alot of things that I've never read. For example, Rumbelow goes into great detail on why Walter Sickert is not the ripper and points to things Cornwell should've caught in her investigation. He also adds alot of great points throughout the book that will get you thinking.If I had one complaint it would be that the words are so small! Literally! You will enjoy it none the less.

I suspect there were some printing problems with this edition, because apart from missing pages at the beginning, there is nothing wrong with the book I received. I got a kindle edition to fill in the missing text. I haven't got to the end of the book yet, but I guess there will be some equivalent pages missing there as well!

A very thorough overview of the evidence available. Clearly all the academic work has been done but Donald Rumbelow's language is accessible and it makes for an interesting and pleasant read despite the gruesome nature of the subject matter. It also allows one access to other relevant material e.g. Colin Wilson's ripper based novel Ritual in the Dark, that I did not know about before reading Rumbelow. Definitely worth a read if one is interested in the ripper or in books set in London.

I couldn't put this book down! Very interesting and and full of facts not only about Jack the Ripper but also other murder cases. Will recommend to family and friends.

This book was recommended to me by a Jack the Ripper tour guide as I asked which book would you say is the best book to buy for this subject.

A very good account of the murders, however, I would have preferred more of the book to concentrate on the killings. A lot of time is spent away from this subject. All in all a good read.