Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper--Case Closed - Hardcover

Cornwell, Patricia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399149325 ISBN 13: 9780399149320

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2002

Synopsis

The best-selling novelist turns her attention to the real-life, century-old series of crimes that terrorized London in the 1880s, drawing on meticulous research, state-of-the art forensic science, and insights into the criminal mind to reveal the true identity of the infamous Jack the Ripper. 750,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Patricia Cornwell's most recent number-one bestsellers include The Last Precinct and Isle of Dogs. Her earlier work includes Postmortem-the only novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in a single year-and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the year's best crime novel of 1993. Her fictional chief medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, won the 1999 Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author. Cornwell helped establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, the first forensic training facility of its kind in the nation, and serves as the Institute's Chairman of the Board. Visit the Institute's website vifsm.org and Cornwell's own website at patriciacornwell.com.

Reviews

Jack the Ripper was renowned artist Walter Sickert (1860-1942) according to Cornwell, in case anyone hasn't yet heard. The evidence Cornwell accumulates toward that conclusion in this brilliant, personal, gripping book is very strong, and will persuade many. In May 2001, Cornwell took a tour of Scotland Yard that interested her in the Ripper case, and in Sickert as a suspect. A look at Sickert's "violent" paintings sealed her interest, and she became determined to apply, for the first time ever, modern investigatory and forensic techniques to the crimes that horrified London more than 100 years ago. The book's narrative is complex, as Cornwell details her emotional involvement in the case; re-creates life in Victorian times, particularly in the late 1880s, and especially the cruel existence of the London poor; offers expertly observed scenarios of how, based on the evidence, the killings occurred and the subsequent investigations were conducted; explains what was found by the team of experts she hired; and gives a psycho-biography of Sickert. The book is filled with newsworthy revelations, including the successful use of DNA analysis to establish a link between an envelope mailed by the Ripper and two envelopes used by Sickert. There are also powerful comparisons made between Sickert's drawing style and that of the Ripper; between words and turns of phrases used by both men; and much other circumstantial evidence. Also newsworthy is Cornwell's conclusion that Sickert continued to kill long after the Ripper supposedly lay down his blade, reaping dozens of victims over his long life. Compassionate, intense, superbly argued, fluidly written and impossible to put down, this is the finest and most important true-crime book to date of the 21st century. Main selection of the BOMC, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Can truth be stranger than Cornwell's fiction? Here, the best-selling novelist claims to uncover the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is one of the most talked about books of the currentpublishing season; if you have not heard about it yet, you have notbeen keeping up with book news! Cornwell, author of the popular KayScarpetta mystery series, turns her hand here to nonfiction to explorea subject that recently has thoroughly riveted her attention: noneother than the ultimate in unsolved serial murder cases, that of Jackthe Ripper. Readers will remember that the Ripper plunged London'sEast End into abject terror for a few months in 1888, during whichtime he brutally murdered several prostitutes. Cornwell applied moderninvestigative and forensic techniques to answer the question of theRipper's identity, hardly leaving a single stone unturned in gatheringevidence, which she presents in this absolutely absorbing book. Whowas Jack the Ripper, then? Cornwell points her finger at Impressionistpainter Walter Richard Sickert, and her indictment rests on, amongother things, DNA testing and matching watermarks on envelopes. Sheadeptly sets the whole horrifying story within the tenor of life inVictorian England, and the result is a well-constructed, endlesslyfascinating account that is sure not only to arouse debate but also togenerate considerable demand in the library. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0399149325
• ISBN 13: 9780399149320
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400