Portrait of a Killer : Jack the Ripper - Case Closed

BETWEEN AUGUST AND NOVEMBER 1888 AT LEAST SEVEN WOMEN WERE MURDERED IN WHITECHAPEL. THE GRUESOME NATURE OF THEIR DEATHS CAUSED PANIC AND FEAR FOR MONTHS IN THE EAST END, AND GAVE RISE TO THE SOBRIQUET WHICH WAS TO BECOME SHORTHAND FOR A SERIAL KILLER - JACK THE RIPPER.

For over a hundred years the identity of the murders have remained among one of the world's greatest unsolved crimes, and a wealth of theories have been posited which have pointed the finger at royalty, a barber, a doctor, a woman and an artist. Using her formidable range of forensic and technical skills, Patricia Cornwell has applied the rigourous discipline of twenty-first-century police investigation to the extant material, and here presents the hard evidence that the perpetrator of the Whitechapel murders was the world-famous artist, Walter Sickert.

By using techniques unknown in the late Victorian era, Patricia Cornwell has exposed Sickert as the author of the infamous Ripper letters to the Metropolitan Police. Her detailed analysis of his paintings shows how his art continually depicted his horrific mutilation of his victims, and her examination of thais man's birth defects, the consequent genital surgical interventions and their effects on his upbringing present a casebook example of how a psychopathic killer is created.

With her knowledge of criminal investigation and her consummate skills as a bestselling writer, Patricia Cornwell has produced a book which is as compelling as it is authentic and pays due respect to the people whose early deaths spawned one of the twentieth century's least attractive entertainment industries——those of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddows, Mary Kelly and others.

Patricia Cornwell's first novel was published in 1990. Since then she and her creation, Kay Scarpetta, have become household names and she has earned widespread critical acclaim. She has helped to establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine and serves as its Chairman of the Board.