Nice to meet you, my name is Jack (The Diary of Jack the Ripper - Shirley Harrison)

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Product:	The Diary of Jack the Ripper - Shirley Harrison
Date:	02/03/04 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good read

Disadvantages: found to be false

Now I am intrigied by true life crime. I think it must come my ex profession in the forces. I like to read true life crime and try and understand why they did it or what makes them tick.

I am not a Barbara Bradford Taylor or a Mills and Boon sort of person. I like criminiolgy more and although I will admit it, these are practically only one of a few books I will read. I do like autobiographies but I get a feel for a book and there are few books that make me want to read all night.

I am useless at reading a book and I am an impatient sort of person as I normally read the back page before the front page.

The book I am going to do my opinion on is called The Diary of Jack the Ripper.

The Book Cover
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It is a purple and black marbeled cover with a burgundy binding. On the front page is the name of the book and underneath this is the writing. The discovery, the investigation, the authentication. Underneath it is handwriting signed Jack the ripper, actually a bit scary but it looks like my writing. The book is hardback and that is basically the front and back and side.

The Contents
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There are prefaces 1, Is it real, 2, Acknowledgements, 3, Maps
You then have chapters one to sixteen that takes you through the Diary of Jack the ripper.
The last hundred or so pages are transcripts of the diary that was found, postscripts, Index and sources.

The Story of how the book came into being
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Apparently a man who was called Mr Barrattwas given this diary by a man called Mr Devereux in May 1991. Unfortunately the latter died a couple of months later without revealing where he had got the book. It is believed th
at the latter was an electrican who worked on the main suspects house in the early 1920s but again this was only speculation. The Diary was authenticiated by top people who said it was ink and paper of the time. But lets think logically here. I also have paper from this era and written work so 12 years ago it would have been more readily easy to buy.

The Diary was an old scrapbook with pages and pages of writing in and crossings out. Again thinking about this, it could have been someone who had mental problems at the time or who fantasised about the killings as they were much publicised nationally in the papers.

As with other books on the Ripper, it will never be known definatley who was the ripper. The person took that to their grave. We can only speculate and everyone seems to have an opinion on who the Ripper was. I have read many ripper books and each time I think that is him. Then a new book comes out and again I think no that must be him. As DNA was never available at the time, we will never know.

The Plot
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A Liverpool merchant called James Maybrick is what this diary is all about. When reading the book you will read this it will make you think it is him. There were five Whitechapel murders in 1888, Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. All were killed in this year and murdered with a knife. Again they were good time girls, prostitutes but who ever they were they never deserved to die like this.

Maybrick goes into detail of how and when he killed these women. Again though these were well publicised in the newspapers. It show him going down to London at the right times. Maybrick was also married and lived in Liverpool in Battlecrease House and was an affluent
member of society. There are artists impressions at the time of the ripper and you can compare this to Maybrick but to be honest you could match these to a lot of men of that era.

His long suffering wife Florence Maybrick was sentenced to death as in those days women used arsenic to whiten their skin and her husband eventually died of poisining. However what the court did not take into consideration is that he was an arsnist addict. Eventually she was found guilty and sentenced to death but she got life and eventually was released to live out the rest of her life.

The Murders after he died stopped and there was more speculation. At the end of the book is the complete diary which is very hard to read so they have transcripted it.

I do not want to go into much more detail about the plot as you will have to find out yourself.

I found this book to be very fascinating and could not put it down. Do I think he is the Ripper. I do not know every time I pick up a book, I think it is him.

I often think why do they not dig one of the victims up and there must be something that is left that they can get DNA of and also him. But then again, let sleeping dogs lie. The murders were one of the great mysteries of the 19th Century which is carried on right through to the 21st Century.

Would I recommend it? yes I would if you are interested in this sort of subject. I have a lot of books on this subject as well at the victorian era.

Now the book was expensive when I bought it but when searching on ebay.co.uk there was on there for sale for £4.99

It is a good book and well worth a read but just be open minded as evrything they put forward I could put something against it.

Karen :0)

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