Mr Sugden really puts in the time to investigate and comb through all the evidence that is available about one of the most famous unsolved serial murder cases in the world. He puts things in a concise way to make it easy for the casual reader to understand the conditions of London in the late 19th century and the contemporary police doing the best they could with what little technology was available to aid them in solving crimes like these at the time. You will not find any theories on who actually Sugden thought did it, because the evidence doesn't point to any clear suspect.

As other reviewers have stated, this is probably the best book out there for someone who is not an expert to read about the Jack the Ripper case. Many people have only the limited knowledge of the murders happening in London and the killer was never caught. This work definitely sheds light on all the known facts of the case.

Fair warning that there are several pictures of the victims that are rather graphic, so you may want to keep it out of the hands of young children. ( )

This is complete resource for those that follow the Jack the Ripper murders.The author give complete details of the crimes and even photos (some are quite gruesome).This is the first crime where photos were used as part of the investigation.The author gives a background of each victim,this telling their story. These women were not just "hookers", they are family women and women struggling to survive in harsh times. He also explains,in depth abt the investigations. ( )

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the Whitechapel murders and Jack the Ripper. The author sticks to the facts, which is essential in this kind of book. There is a lot of misinformation out there, but this book seems very scholarly and trustworthy.

This book is very detailed, and thus has very detailed descriptions. I have the ebook version, which doesn't include illustrations or photographs. That's probably a good thing, because I accidentally saw the murder scene photos on the internet and they are not nice to look at. At least they were poor quality black-and-white photos... ( )

Love this book!!! Sugden really impresses by using primary sources and not newspaper accounts or a policeman's musings 30 years later. N.B. Don't read before going to bed! ( )

I had to stop reading during lunch break because I couldn't stomach the descriptions of the mutilations. The book is quite a heavy tome on the Whitechapel murders. The only other Jack the Ripper book I read was Patricia Cornwell's Portrait of a Killer (http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5216258).

This book was much better researched, going back to original police records as opposed to newspaper stories. He argues consitently and quite convincingly for certain suspects and against other suspects, and most importantly, against various conspiracy theories.

I can't get my head around the fact that there are several periodicals on the topic of Jack the Ripper coming up with new findings all the time. But still the Ripper hasn't been identified. ( )