Jack the Ripper: The Casebook

by Richard Jones

Investigate one of the most compelling killers of all time! Jack the Ripper: The Casebook takes readers on a tour of Victorian London’s underworld where the slayings took place, from street corner taverns to unsavory lodging houses. One by one the murder victims are revealed, the circumstances of their killings investigated, and the suspects analyzed. What amateur sleuths will find most fascinating here are the many facsimiles of contemporary documents, including letters allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper to police and elsewhere, police reports, press articles, and personal correspondence. These facsimiles provide readers with access to all the available information so they, too, can try to unravel this century-old mystery.

 

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime, Mystery, Historical, Horror

63 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2008

About the author

Richard Jones is the author of 18 books, two of which (Uncovering Jack the Ripper’s London and Jack the Ripper: The Casebook) are about the 1888 Whitechapel Murders, and several others (Walking Dickensian London and History and Mystery London of which cover other aspects of East End history.

Reviews

[[ J o ] · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains all the details you could desire to learn more about the man they called Jack the Ripper: a murderer in the Whitechapel area of London who murdered prostitutes and was the one that got away. It is unbiased, though the way it is set out makes it feel as if the murders have been trivialised a little for entertainment purposes. Wanting to learn about a murder doesn't mean you condone it, but this feels like it blurs the line between a horrific act by a detestable man and just something that happened.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for anybody fascinated by this famous case as it contains facsimiles of documents from the police archives. Jones brings nothing new to the table (but then again, what else is there to say?) but presents his facts in an interesting and informative way.

[Lucy (_burymeinbooks_) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction to the Jack the Ripper case. Not only does it cover the crimes but gives a background on the people involved including the victims, the potential suspects and society at the time the crimes were committed. It is an easy to digest book with each double spread focusing on a different aspect complete with illustrations and photographs. The greatest part is the addition of copies of the letters supposedly sent by the ripper as well as the detective reports and newspaper articles. Highly recommend this to all true crime fans.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A quick look into the women murdered by Jack the Ripper, the environment the victims lived in, facsimile documents (which were hard to read) from Police enquiries to newspapers were included, and a rundown of suspects during and after the investigation.

The book had photographs from the time the crimes occurred to give an idea of what the area was like, but also had morgue shots from some of the victims which didn't feel right that they were included. Personal taste.

This is a good introduction to the lore of Jack the Ripper. Emphasis on lore as the press at the time had a lot to answer for.

[weemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love these books - where they include documents and photos that you can pull out and look at. Really interesting; read in one sitting!

[Rachel 💚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is fantastic, it is unbiased and presents all the information, enabling you to draw your own conclusion.
in the book there are copies of the letters he wrote to taunt police, they are presented on seperate pieces of paper which is a really nice touch.
overall i think the book was very well done and laid out perfectly.

[Adam Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 for 'Jack The Ripper: The Casebook' by Richard Jones

A wonderfully produced non-fiction guide to the awful crimes of Jack The Ripper, with lots of information on the Whitechapel area of London's East End in the 1880s, and information regarding the police reports and possible candidates for The Rippers true identity. This book presents all of the information and allows the reader to make up their own mind regarding who Jack might have actually been.

Jones has obviously researched his head off, as the book is absolutely chock full of information, a lot of which I'm sure most people familiar with Jack would already know, but there was also a good deal of information that I'd not read too much about before. The information is presented in a logical manner, with intros to the time and the area at the start, a chronological sequence of events, page by page, through the middle, and then possible identities and reasons for why the killer was never caught at the end.

Aesthetically, this book is beautiful - they've really gone to town on the production values. The wrap-around cover, with magnetic seals, the wonderful sepia-style pages, filled with bloodstains and murder weapons, and an abundance of photographs and drawings of the events from the time that they actually happened. And the three sleeves that contain pull-out copies of actual police documents, papers and supposed letters from Jack - these are wonderful, although at least half of the police documents are unreadable, due to the flowing, victorian script.

That's one of two negatives I have that keep this from being a perfect 5-star book. Where's the point in going to the trouble and expense of including these reproductions of actual victorian documents, and then not providing typed transcriptions of their contents? I went to primary school in the early 1980s and joined-up writing had stopped being taught way back then (at least in England), so, even though I’m 43 years old and reasonably widely read, most of the police documents were indecipherable to me. Such a waste.

My second negative is the book's length - I felt that all of the 2-page articles could have easily filled 4 pages instead, giving us more info, more text and more photographs. What Jones has produced is, on the whole, really, really good, and it is presented beautifully. I just wish it was longer and the police documents were readable.

Overall, a lavishly produced and engrossing overview of The Rippers crimes. Highly recommended to those who are interested.

4/5

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-Read.
Wer sich für True-Crime und die Jack the Ripper-Fälle interessiert bekommt hier einen guten Überblick. Das Buch ist zwar nicht unfassbar text- und detailreich, bietet aber genug Informationen, um das Thema einigermaßen abzudecken. Glänzen tut das Buch allerdings ganz besonders in seiner Anschaulichkeit. Es ist sehr schön aufgemacht, sehr reich bebildert und das Highlight sind natürlich die ganzen "Extras", wie zum Beispiel Zeitungsartikel und Briefe, die man dem Buch entnehmen kann.
Kleines Manko: Die Briefe, etc. sind natürlich in zeitgenössischer Handschrift geschrieben, was es manchmal schwer macht, sie zu entziffern. Eine zusätzliche gedruckte Version hätte das deutlich erleichtert.
Anmerken muss ich auch, dass die Sprache im gesamten Buch definitiv nichts für Englisch Anfänger ist! Eigentlich ist es nur lesbar, wenn man ziemlich bis sehr gut Englisch liest.

[Kevin Fitzsimmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just to get it out of the way: this isn't the end all be all of Jack the Ripper books. I am sure that many a dedicated Ripperologist will find it lacking in finer details and a little "light" in terms of addressing different debates in the study of these crimes. This is book is designed and marketed to appeal to the crude side of human interest. I am not proud I enjoyed this book, but dammit, I did.

Big, lots of fun documents to pull out, lots of great pictures. The book looks like a children's story book, but don't give it to the kiddies, it will damage them. Most importantly, this book passes my public transportation test by making the people sitting around me give me curious and horrified glances.

[Martyn Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good book if you're completely new to the subject or just want something to dip into. I can imagine Richard Jones pointing a member of his tour group over to this book or trying to sell it to them at the end of one of his excellent tours. Lots of nice illustrations and photos but it's more of a coffee table type read (at least on my coffee table anyhow!) due to its hard cover and very short length. Short on detail, context, clues, background and theories but maybe I'm not the target audience?
However, if you're wanting something more serious and with better detail and information then I would recommend Prash ganendran's Jack the ripper Straight for the Jugular or Scotland Yard Investigates by Donald Rumbelow.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the information. The font was small and it took away from comfort reading as I had to hold it closer to read. The pull out documents were neat however some were very hard to read so it would have been nice if it came with typed version as well so I would get the full effect of the documents. Overall it gave me a refresher of the “Ripper” days even though I wish there was more on each individual murder.

[Karen Wenborn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a gift from a friend as I have recently read a couple of Ripper books. The case notes and facsimilies are fascinating, the mortuary photographs gruesome. Overall very useful in showing the barbaric reality of the crimes. Usual lazy tagging if the victims as all prostitutes a bit of a spoiler.

[Billy Helston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it it because it was so visual.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great beginners guide to Ripper history, every thing you'd need to know.

[Jessica Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like the coffee table version of JtR reading, with glossy pages and pull out facsimiles of original documents. The only thing missing is a map!

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

As other people have said its only worthwile if you have absolutely no knowledge of the Whitechapel murders, it gives an adequate sketch but nothing more

[Emmaleagh Fantom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its an amazing book and I really enjoyed that you can use it and make your own case up of who you think it was.

[Jacqui Jacoby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the information, along with the pullouts was very good. The fact it was printed in a font size you need a magnifying glass for -- it made the reading really, really hard and I know I missed a lot.

[Michele Brack · Rating 5 out of 5]

#5 A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics

What better book to read about London than a book about Jack the Ripper, huh?! This book didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know (because look who you're talking to here) but it was fun to look at all the memorabilia that they added in to make it interesting. They had little newspaper clippings and police reports, that I mostly could NOT read because the hand-writing was terrible and tiny.. they even threw in some of the notes that the police received during the murders that they believed came from the killer. Quite the little treasure trove for a little murderino like me. I like little things like that. I have one for Jim Morrison and one for Salvador Dali as well.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very compact book filled to the brim with information about the great mystery that is Jack the Ripper. A fascinating case if I may say so myself, even if I find police recordings and murder investigations a bit dull, probably because I've watched way too many cop shows.



Yeah, well the police at that time probably couldn't compare to the overly cliched cool of David Caruso, but I digress.

I liked that the book included actual copies of the police reports and Ripper letters, rather than just giving a brief summary of their contents. It made you feel as if you were actually investigating the case for real, not just reading about it in a book.

All in all it was very comprehensive and detailed and definitely a book anyone passionate about criminology should have in their library.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at the Sherlock Holmes museum giftshop, but I saw it is also available everywhere else.
This book describes on every page , and only on one page, the victims of Jack the Ripper, it starts with a short introduction of the life and the people of the East End during this century and ended with the main suspects of the murder series.
Concerning that only one page for every subject is available, the informations of course were kept short, but that doesn't break the reading enjoyment down.
Furthermore, the book is fully good illustrated and contains removable items of police notice,the Dear Boss letter and some reports of the Chief Inspectors reports.
A good and enjoyable book for everyone to read even without any previous knowledge.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the book because I like mystery books.
I also like the book because I like to learn about things in history.
I also like to learn about killers because if I meet one that I don't know I will know what attributes to look for.
And I like this book a lot because this case is still unsolved
The plot is that this person murdered manny people and this mystery is still unsolved

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all jack the Ripper buffs this book is a must. Copies of original documents combined with an easy to read breakdown of the Whitechapel murders events and gloss pictures makes this a very enjoyable, all be it disturbing read.

[Izabela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great little reference for people who know little about Jack the Ripper all the way through those who are familiar with it. If the pull-out facsimiles were actually readable, I'd give it 5 stars.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a good broad overview of the victims of Jack the Ripper as well as key witnesses and the suspects. It's short on details, but at least doesn't promote one theory over another. Plus the layout is fun.

[Minda · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book...read it a few times....

[Meg Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant thing to have.i love all the little pockets of letters. also have a sherlock holmes one. jack the ripper is a favourite subject of mine.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lack of proper editing in some parts really detracted from the story.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a easy read with copies of interesting bits of paper from police files. Not overly complicated.

[Lisa Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creepy in a fascinating way. Reading this was like watching a car wreck. I just couldn't look away, no matter how much it twisted my stomach.