Rivals of the Ripper: Unsolved Murders of Women in Late Victorian London

by Jan Bondeson

Jack the Ripper is the quintessential Victorian serial killer, and the debate continues with regard to the number of his victims: were there just four or five, or more than nine of them? But there is a profusion of unsolved murders of London women from late Victorian times, and this book presents eleven of the most gruesome and mysterious of them. Marvel at the convoluted Kingswood Mystery and the unsolved Cannon Street Murder of 1866; shudder at the Hoxton Horror and the Great Coram Street Murder of 1872; be puzzled by the West Ham Disappearances and by the unsolved railway murder of Elizabeth Camp in 1898. Murder often came to call at the flyblown lodging-houses of Burton Crescent and Euston Square. Prostitutes were murdered in London brothels in 1863, in 1872 and in 1884; none of the murders were ever solved. There are many books about the Whitechapel fiend, but this is the first on to detail the ghoulish handiwork of the Rivals of the Ripper.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Victorian, Crime, British Literature, 19th Century

525 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2016

About the author

Outside of his career in medicine, he has written several nonfiction books on a variety of topics, such as medical anomalies and unsolved murder mysteries.

Bondeson is the biographer of a predecessor of Jack the Ripper, the London Monster, who stabbed fifty women in the buttocks, of Edward 'the Boy' Jones, who stalked Queen Victoria and stole her underwear, and Greyfriars Bobby, a Scottish terrier who supposedly spent 14 years guarding his master's grave.

He is currently working as a senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist at the Cardiff University School of Medicine.


(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Tracey Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well researched book but not one to read all at once, it's one of those books to pick up occasionally and read a chapter. It's interesting to glimpse another part of Victorian England with murders other than The Ripper taking place. I did find it began to drag and for me the title Rivals of The Ripper cleverly draws you to the book but in fact none of the murders discussed in the book resembled the sheer horror and inhumane barbarism that were involved in the Ripper murders and cannot be compared as rivals.

[Cellardoora Maar · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 Sterne.

Okay, darüber müssen wir reden. *seufz und Stirn reib*

Ich sag's mal so: das wenig subtile Buchcover und der reißerische Titel hätten mich wirklich misstrauischer machen sollen. Aber für wenig Tacken ein Buch über viktorianische Mordfälle? - Why not.

In diesem Buch werden 12 ungelöste Mordfälle an englischen Frauen im Zeitraum 1861-1897 beschrieben, wobei jeder Fallbericht in drei Bereiche strukturiert ist:
1. Der Mordablauf an sich.
2. Die Ermittlungen.
3. Bondesons eigene Gedanken/Theorien dazu.
Hört sich soweit erstmal logisch an, oder?!

Wo man aber anfangs noch interessiert liest, setzt nach einiger Zeit eine gewisse Angenervtheit ein. Da wird mit alten Gedichtsbrocken rumgeschleimt und sprachlich mitunter dermaßen übertrieben aufgetragen, dass man irgendwann vor lauter Augenverdreherei sein eigenes Gehirn erblickt.
Übertreibe ich? - Mir egal, in diesem Fall darf ich das!

Ein zweiter großer Makel ist ständiges Wiederholen. Die drei Punkte vermischen sich regelmäßig. Im schlimmsten Fall sieht das dann so aus: Ein Verdächtiger (zum Beispiel ein Familienmitglied) erzählt in Punkt 1, was er weiß. Das wird dann vor Gericht (also unter Punkt 2) wiederholt. Und um den Vogel endgültig abzuschießen, untersucht der Autor das auch noch mal genauestens in ... jahaaa, Punkt 3.

Es ist also ganz natürlich, wenn aus Lesen irgendwann Überfliegen wird. Meistens fand ich den ersten Punkt noch am interessantesten. Punkt 2 verlor sich meist in wenig sinnvolle Laberei, da selbst von "Geständnissen" irgendwelcher Besoffenen berichtet wird, die sich - totale surprise! - nie als wahr erwiesen. Und die weiblichen Opfer sind halt auch nicht wirklich "abwechslungsreich" ausgesucht oder an sich besonders faszinierend, aber ich möchte hier nichts verraten.

Trotzdem mein Rat: Lest bitte ein anderes Buch über viktorianische Morde - es gibt eine große, tolle Auswahl!

[Deanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victorian murders

Recommended to anyone who likes history and true crimes. A series of murders which were committed in the London area in the reign of Victoria.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read but few conclusions drawn apart from the seeming ineptitude of the London police and the luck of the perpetrators. It does show however that life especially for Victorian women with no independent income was very difficult. Prostitution being the only way to make ends meet and leaving them particularly vulnerable. If women did have money then they were seen as prey for the predators of the time both men and women. These are rivals of the ripper in a limited sense: they were never caught.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing my 'Ripper' reading, this book was selected with the aim of seeing if any of the unsolved female murders could be attached to the infamous Whitechapel list.
'Rivals of the Ripper' (2016) catalogue a dozen or so murders in London. A few may be similar to the ripper M.O. but the dates are too far removed from 1888 to be considered as part of the serial killer's work. The rest are results of robberies/burglaries or one off killings, and most were unsolved because of a lack of clues or witnesses for the police to successfully investigate, although the press of the day did castigate the cities detectives.
It has to be said that the author Jan Bondeson has thoroughly catalogued these murder cases and included a very comprehensive Bibliography for further reading in these three hundred and fifty pages.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absolutely outstanding project by the author. In this volume he collected the most famous murder cases (next to the Ripper cases in 1887/1888) through the 19th century in London. In almost every district there was some mysterious deed! He underlines the text with many illustrations and quotes from the press (e.g. The Penny Illustrated Paper) and black and white photos. If you plan a kind of murder tour through London you should take this book into closest deliberation. Extremely interesting and highly recommended!

[Hannah Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book delving into the darker side of Victorian London and the crimes that went on behind closed doors.

This book consists of stories of women who were murdered and their killer was never brought to justice.

I found this really interesting and also sad, a lot of these women were down in their luck and doing their best to survive in a hardened city, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Gary Loewy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit repetitive

Well written and researched. Certainly showed that the London police never always got there man, seemed in most of the cases in this book, if the witnesses couldn't identify the suspect that was it.

[Vik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a basis of research for my thesis, and I found it quite interesting. It introduced to some crimes that I hadn't heard of before, which has given me more ideas to research. I have several more of Bondeson's books on my list as well.

[Kevin Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting set of information on crimes in the London area during the mid to late 19th century. I liked how the author stated when there was still a police file and court records with the crime information that was presented.

[teddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

somewhat repetitive but an interesting nonetheless.

[Haley Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 🌟

[Mark A Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another well researched and readable book by Jan Bondeson, shining new light on a number of forgotten and unsolved murders that haunted Victorian society. Ignore the lurid cover and inaccurate title: Bondeson's narrative mostly focuses on singular murders of women motivated by robbery, revenge, anger, madness, and lust rather than wallowing in sensationalistic serial killer tropes. Victims are treated as real people, the evidence against possible perpetrators is never black and white, and the detectives are varyingly human, good and bad, both conscientious and incompetent. This reality unfortunately leads to one of the books few potential flaws, as each case can read exactly similar to the next, which isn't helped by the author's regular template approach (for example he always starts with a classical quote, and regularly ends with notes on supposed ghost sightings of the victims and then musing on how the real perpetrator may have had nightmares). The banality of real evil however really comes out as you progress, itself an important lesson for the student of vintage crime. Essential for anyone interested in Victorian murder, society and criminology.

[Hilde Helseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Book that don't have a happy ending' - unsolved murders

[Weasel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read - gets a little long winded, and slightly out of sequence at times (a point starts, there's a tangent, then the point gets picked up again).

The last chapter is the most stilted, and almost feels hurried, but offers a summary of the author's opinion on each case. But first it mentions a load of other cases as examples of things but only by the names and without depth and it feels very unnecessary.

Otherwise the chapters work quite well and are fairly informative.