Crimes, Detection and Death of Jack the Ripper

A rarety in "Ripper Books" is the author who looks for a suspect that fits the facts rather than twisting the facts to support a pet suspect. The majority of Fido's book is dedicated to a superficial but lucid narration of the timeline of events and participants of the case. This highly readable text introduces "the facts," dispels a few of "the myths," and provides the reader a solid background of information before leading into his own investigation of potential Ripper suspect "Aaron Kosminsky". I found Fido's theory and investigative techniques to be more credible than many I have encountered in other books on the "Ripper Case." This is certainly a "must read" for anyone with an interest in the enduring mystery of Jack the Ripper.

This is not a bad ripper book. It was published in the late 80s and had four different editions over the years. It is considered one of the better ripper books. I picked it up in the library a few years ago and it is primarily aimed at revealing the Jew who was sent to an Insane Asylum shortly after the death of the last canonical victim of Jack the Ripper. In 1894, the Insane Jew was first suggested in the Macnaghten Memoranda, which didn't get much attention until recent times. Martin Fido tracks down the Ripper suspect and reveals quite a bit about this mysterious character who is still considered a prime candidate till this day. In fact the last time I checked he was in the top 5 and usually resides somewhere around second place. His name was Aaron Kosminski but there are several variations of his name found in old records including the name - Cohen. Anyhow you would probably like to know that some of the original investigators claimed that he was actually identified as the killer by a witness who would not testify again him because he was a fellow Jew. Unlike most Ripper suspects there is a very strong case against Kosminski. In fact one investigator went as far as to say that they knew that this man was Jack the Ripper and that he was put away in an Insane asylum. So if you ever heard the story about the Insane Jew who was Jack the Ripper - well this is where it came from.If you are going to read a ripper book then get Philip Sugden's "The Complete History of Jack the Ripper" which is definitive and meticulous in its research value. He covers three or four Ripper suspects at the end of his book and Kosminski is one of them. Kosminski is not absolutely Jack the Ripper but he is one of the very strong contestants. This is the book that really brought the name into the public domain. Well worth examining if you can get it. Fido is a very knowledgably Ripperologists. He has several other books on the subject.The reason why this book gets five stars is because out of all the Jack the Ripper books in print this is probably in the top 5 in my opinion. If you are to take the top 5 books (all that follow in Sugden's footsteps) then it would merit about 4 stars. Anyway try and get it. It is worth it.