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Crimes, Detection and Death of Jack the Ripper
This book re-examines all the sensational details of the murders ascribed to Jack the Ripper. It investigates the roles and reliability of the policemen involved in the murder inquiry and analyzes the evidence against all the suspects--checking them against the personality patterns of other sexual serial murderers. The author, whose conclusion was endorsed by the Scotland Yard & the F.B.I., provides a convincing identification of the Ripper.
239 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 29, 2014
I've been fascinated with the story of Jack the Ripper and his five unfortunate victims since I was a teenager, and since then have read most books that I've found about him. It's entirely possible I read this in my teens, but only recently picked it up at a charity shop so this may as well be my first reading.
Martin Fido has since added his name to the handful of strict chroniclers of the documented legacy of the case, but back when this book was published had only produced the Murder Guide to London. Somehow, he seems to have felt this was license enough to create his own particular theory on the identity of Jack the Ripper. On the way, he does a handy job of laying out the case as separated into separate sections. He divides concepts to be able to focus attention on different aspects of the case, giving us a thorough look at the victims and what happened to them, the police and the chief players therein and the major contending suspects at the time and up to the book's publication. Though this method of dealing with the facts has the unfortunate side-effect of delivering information in an episodic fashion rather than as a flowing non-fiction narrative, it does allow Fido to give us a quite well-rounded look at each of the important factors affecting the case.
The first section, on the victims, is basically the same as might be found in any book on Jack the Ripper, referring to the police files to account for the life, last actions and deaths of not only the canonic victims but those suspected (which he dismisses each according to their reasons). As he does in each of the sections, Fido occasionally forgets the drive of what he's currently writing and slides off into a tangent that's better dealt with in another part but it never damages the story.
The second section is the most tedious and least enjoyable, as it delves a bit too much into the characters of all the major players in both the City and Metropolitan police forces. Clearly, he does this in an attempt to clarify suspicions and suggestions that appear in his own final summation of the killer's identity, but it ends up taking us so far out of the flow of the case itself that it proves difficult to read.
The final section covers the small group of major suspects, both popular and unlikely. Fido seems to be grinding an axe against Stephen Knight's Final Solution (the outlandish Masons-and-Royals conspiracy that saw glorious life in Alan Moore's From Hell, later a major film), although he respects his fellow-author's research. He here makes more reference to the other major writers on Jack the Ripper (most notably the titan of the field, Donald Rumbelow), if only to attempt to debunk their pet theories regarding Jack's identity. Unfortunately, he abandons the meticulously factual work he's presented thus far in favour of gut feelings and intuitions regarding behaviours and thought-processes of people he's never met and who did not leave behind emotional diaries to show their inner workings to future generations.
His solution to the Jack question, when it comes, is truly the most plausible I've ever seen, but he regrettably revealls that much of his linking-of-pieces was down to his own deduction. Without proof of his qualification to make such leaps of intellect, it becomes hard to support his own suspect any more than any other's.
This is essential reading in Ripperology, and Fido's contribution to the field is unmistakeably great. However, a better supported argument would make his final suggestion of identity considerably more believable. Until someone manages to more thoroughly make the connections Fido makes on instinct, this is just more gristle to the mill.
Martin Fido has since added his name to the handful of strict chroniclers of the documented legacy of the case, but back when this book was published had only produced the Murder Guide to London. Somehow, he seems to have felt this was license enough to create his own particular theory on the identity of Jack the Ripper. On the way, he does a handy job of laying out the case as separated into separate sections. He divides concepts to be able to focus attention on different aspects of the case, giving us a thorough look at the victims and what happened to them, the police and the chief players therein and the major contending suspects at the time and up to the book's publication. Though this method of dealing with the facts has the unfortunate side-effect of delivering information in an episodic fashion rather than as a flowing non-fiction narrative, it does allow Fido to give us a quite well-rounded look at each of the important factors affecting the case.
The first section, on the victims, is basically the same as might be found in any book on Jack the Ripper, referring to the police files to account for the life, last actions and deaths of not only the canonic victims but those suspected (which he dismisses each according to their reasons). As he does in each of the sections, Fido occasionally forgets the drive of what he's currently writing and slides off into a tangent that's better dealt with in another part but it never damages the story.
The second section is the most tedious and least enjoyable, as it delves a bit too much into the characters of all the major players in both the City and Metropolitan police forces. Clearly, he does this in an attempt to clarify suspicions and suggestions that appear in his own final summation of the killer's identity, but it ends up taking us so far out of the flow of the case itself that it proves difficult to read.
The final section covers the small group of major suspects, both popular and unlikely. Fido seems to be grinding an axe against Stephen Knight's Final Solution (the outlandish Masons-and-Royals conspiracy that saw glorious life in Alan Moore's From Hell, later a major film), although he respects his fellow-author's research. He here makes more reference to the other major writers on Jack the Ripper (most notably the titan of the field, Donald Rumbelow), if only to attempt to debunk their pet theories regarding Jack's identity. Unfortunately, he abandons the meticulously factual work he's presented thus far in favour of gut feelings and intuitions regarding behaviours and thought-processes of people he's never met and who did not leave behind emotional diaries to show their inner workings to future generations.
His solution to the Jack question, when it comes, is truly the most plausible I've ever seen, but he regrettably revealls that much of his linking-of-pieces was down to his own deduction. Without proof of his qualification to make such leaps of intellect, it becomes hard to support his own suspect any more than any other's.
This is essential reading in Ripperology, and Fido's contribution to the field is unmistakeably great. However, a better supported argument would make his final suggestion of identity considerably more believable. Until someone manages to more thoroughly make the connections Fido makes on instinct, this is just more gristle to the mill.
December 28, 2015
Jack the Ripper fascinates so many of us. So many theories and we never (CAN never) know for sure. This work explores the crimes, the social factors and the credibility of the police involved. He provides evidence debunking many theories and explores sources and their reliability. Sometimes the book is a bit dry but the information it contains is very well-researched and thought out. The edition I read was updated from the original after new information had come to light.
March 1, 2025
I was familiar with Martin Fido from his enjoyably well-illustrated but prosaic 1973 biography of Oscar Wilde (Desmond Hall wrote the definitive version). However, leave it to the British to make a blood-curdling subject like Jack the Ripper as dull as dishwater. Still, one has to give Fido props for exhaustively thorough research and the distinction of being recognized as the finder of one of the most likely probable solutions to the killer's identity. And yet I read it, dull as it was, every damn word, with respect and interest. Bravo Martin Fido. Rest in Peace.
June 20, 2020
Very well researched. I would have enjoyed this as a college course.
July 11, 2010
When we were in London we took a tour with Martin Fido through White Chapel. We stopped at each murder sight (or as close as you can get) and had the time of our lives being scared. The next day I went to the booksellers and found a copy of his book. Fido is a criminologist at Oxford University and I believe he has come as close as anyone will to figuring out who Jack really was and why Scotland Yard might have kept secrets. He tells all in this informative little book.
January 14, 2008
Read this after taking a tour of Jack the Ripper's London with the author...one of the more plausible solutions, though a fantastic moniker- Leather Apron. Be sure to check out the usual suspects, I mean authors...Sugden, Rumbelow, and Skinner's Ultimate Jack the Ripper.
February 11, 2022
The best book on the infamous killer I have found. Forget the absurd theories about the Ripper's identity. They are fantasy. Fido engages in a serious search for Jack and comes up with a plausible, if still shadowy, suspect.
September 28, 2014
An excellent authority on Jack the Ripper. Very well researched leaving me to believe his conclusion.
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January 12, 2022Been on my first 'Ripper Walk' as of July 15 2016 C.E..
May Ripperology prosper to futurity!
And time travels its mystery to solution.
May Ripperology prosper to futurity!
And time travels its mystery to solution.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews