The Complete History of Jack the Ripper ..

[sarasarita!]

.. by Philip Sugden.

I get a lot, and I mean a lot of slack for having an interest in the Ripper murders :o But believe me, and I'm sure/hoping some of you will agree, it's a fascinating case! Especially if you're interested in social history, since the murders shed a lot of light on the living conditions of the poor at that time.

I've read other books about it and none of them come close to Sugden's (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-History-Jack-Ripper/dp/1841193976). I strongly recommend that you read this if you're interested in finding out about the Whitechapel murders, it'll tell you all you need to know and clear up any misconceptions you may have ..

[Anna Elliott]

I just read this one! I agree--it was truly first-rate. Definitely the best I've read on the subject.

[SonjaMarie]

I read this a few years ago and it was the best one I've read about the Ripper killings.

SM

[andrewoberg]

Have you read Alan Moore's "From Hell"? It's a graphic novel, so it may not be your thing, but it is one helluva take on the murders, culture of London/the U.K. at the time, the royal family, privilege and secret societies.

Honestly, it's a comic and it's fiction, but I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[MBP]

I just finished From Hell. It was my first graphic novel, so it was slow going for me at first, but I wound up admiring the scope of Alan Moore's imagination. Also a great unsentimental & nonjudgmental depiction of the victims' lives, coupled with a very judgmental critique of Victorian society (and our own).

What made the novel, for me, were the two appendices. The first, really a "notes" section with editorial comments, was very detailed. I wish more HF authors would include something like it. The second, a graphic mini-history of Ripperology, was interesting and quite funny.

I've never been particularly interested in the Whitechapel murders, but I wound up adding 5-6 books from the notes section to my TBR list. I just started reading one of them, The Maul and the Pear Tree by P. D. James & T. A. Critchley, about the 1811 Ratcliffe Highway murders.

[SonjaMarie]

I just started reading one of them, The Maul and the Pear Tree by P. D. James & T. A. Critchley, about the 1811 Ratcliffe Highway murders.

I've read this earlier this year. The way they wrote back then was a jarring (early 1800s), and it took me longer to read then it would be.

SM