By Alex Ness
July 19, 2021
This article has been written and deleted by accident more than once. As I've been crushed by sleep deprivation due to pain issues following surgery, I am running on vapors. So, I apologize if this is incoherent... I do my best.
In the time of doing some articles and recovery from surgery I've had some insights and opportunities, but I've also failed in many ways. Mostly, my failures come from trying, rather than being lost. When I can't keep thoughts in mind due to lack of sleep and overwhelming pain I fail. I therefore haven't been reading the way I wanted as having planned before surgery.
But I have received numerous emails and comments about recent works and questions about my surgery. So I thought I'd answer and comment best as I can.
What was broken all of sudden requiring surgery of your shoulder I thought you had neck problems?
I have 2 narrowings of spinal column that are called "problematic" and need to be fixed. But the time since November's life saving surgery was spent in ever more increasing pain. They thought I should still heal from November, but an MRI showed a tear in my shoulder's labrum. When they opened up my shoulder it turned out to be a frozen shoulder, and they went about repairing what they could. In addition to my neck issues I have a problematic lumbar vertebrae that has been herniated since being discovered during cancer treatment in 2014. It is continuous pain. It will need to be fixed perhaps before the neck vertbrae/discs.
I REALLY liked the Swallows review. And as you know I loved your book Autumn Painted Red that you mentioned in that review. I would like to ask, what are the four best JTR books, and what are the worst four?
Thanks and no, I didn't know that, so thank you. I think I've read more than 30 books on Jack the Ripper and viewed a dozen or more documentaries, and I honestly have read copies of primary documents, and spoken to a number of the authors of Jack the Ripper books. Now, fiction is one thing, but a fictional work about the Ripper isn't necessarily good or bad, but it might be a lie for the sake of a setting and characters. So, first off, discussing the events, suspects, victims and facts in each of the killings is necessary for a True Crime book, the same isn't true, but might be, of fiction or drama.
The four top books aren't necessarily in possession of the correct set of answers to the Jack the Ripper mystery, but they do offer information that is properly given the weight it deserves. What I mean by that is found in clarity in Jack the Ripper the Final Solution by Stephen Knight. It is a brilliantly told and in a convincingly argued single volume that offers a setting, a suspect, the motives and complete reason behind all that happened. It also happens to be unlikely to be true. That is, as books go, it is very easy to believe it, because it so well done, but the theories used are not likely, beggar the question of facts and evidence, and suggest answers that are fun, or sexy to consider, but have the least likely chance of success of the more famous suspect/victim theory combinations. Jack the Ripper in this case was thought to be the royal surgeon William Gull and associates, to clean up the results of debauchery of Prince Eddy, a royal in line to the throne. It is very exciting and a spectacle of sex, blackmail, and murder.
The two books, one by Donald Rumbelow and Philip Sugden help consider the facts of the Ripper slayings, and do not necessarily name a killer, but allow the reader to gain a mastery of the knowable facts in order to do so themselves. Rumbelow is clear minded in sharing the facts of the case, as is Sugden. But the books, however important do less for any single argument as give a firm and necessary background for study.
In the work Prisoner 1167, JCH Tully does an amazing job at finding the most likely suspect, and giving proof for who that kind of killer would have been, including proclivities and ability to escape from the area following the killings. In particular, James Kelly, his favorite for the killings, had killed, hated women, had an independent source of money, worked as an upholstery ripper under a false name of John Miller. Of the many deviants that criminologists point towards, James Kelly is easily the best choice.
Of the four books I am about to discuss as being the worst, I should point out, the theories in them are not necessarily wrong. They are not necessarily poorly written. The problem is, they are unable to give the facts in a fashion that convinces a reader, due to weakness of theory, weakness of the writing, or the plain fact, you can't prove something happened if there are no facts to prove it. I read all four of these books more than once, and found them all
maddening in terms of potential and result, and wide nets cast hoping to
draw in readers who aren't able to use logic and to view historical
data with a keen mind.
The book Prince Jack by Frank Spiering weaves a tale that names Prince Eddy not as a naughty man who is deviant and the need to cover up his sexual misbehavior, but that he is the actual killer. I did find this well written in a sense of, it told a dramatic story, but it wasn't factual, it wasn't truly well researched, it was essentially a tale that someone figured and told well.
The book Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell is decidedly frustrating. She picks an artist of fame, Walter Sickert as having been the killer based upon subjects of paintings, his odd sense of humor, and letters to the police and newspapers that she believes came from the hand of Walter Sickert and by the information within, the Ripper. However, she doesn't in any prove it, what she proves is that Sickert seems a deviant, and despite his being in France he could have crossed the channel and back on days of the killings. It was a book that had promise, as I think his painting absolutely demonstrates a fascination with the slayings, if not a record of the event. Cornwell is a fantastic writer, but not in this work, her writing was far more about urging one to believe than in giving one reason to believe.
Jack the Ripper the Final Chapter by Paul H. Feldman is a ridiculous work that attempts to make a hoax work, despite it being found out, and using artifacts of the events to suggest it was a hoax based on reality. It is based upon the false document of the Jack the Ripper diaries and various artifacts of the killing and wild speculations about the reasons and evidence. I read through it more than once and while the notion of a Jack the Ripper diary has interest, it was decidedly proven false.
The work by Russell Edwards "Naming Jack the Ripper" wasn't at all poorly written and it is possible that it is true, it just used facts and possible evidence in such a way as to make any serious mind scoff at the conclusions drawn. I don't think that the facts are necessarily wrong, but it has no scientific research message, rather, it reflects the modern idea that DNA is the key to any question being answered. Well I've read that the science here is accurate but that the same argument could be found for almost all of the accused or speculated suspects. I am unsure of that, but, it seems to be an argument based upon the idea of DNA rather than science facts of it.
Of the four bottom of the list to read books, particularly frustrating was Patricia Cornwell's work, since I think her thesis wasn't "wrong" as far as what could have been presented. I'm still reading it, after numerous completions, and I just find it mind numbing in her attempts to insist rather than prove or demonstrate.
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| Some of the prostitute and Ripper art by Walter Sickert |
So, what have you read and have listened to during your time off?
As I mentioned I am dealing with a lot of issues. Some people suggest I have this problem often, maybe I do but the truth is, I have been reading a lot despite the brain fog from pain and surgery. I am just not finding most of it, since the surgery, to be rewarding. The books I am reading are by Mark Lane, a lawyer who wrote one of the first books that seriously accused the Warren Report of being a false document, and later who the CIA and FBI were involved, if not in the shooting directly, in the cover up. Since I found Mark Lane a vibrant powerful voice in interviews and lectures, I am REALLY disappointed in his books. He writes in such a way that it is clear he is a lawyer, presenting only content that agrees with his thesis, and telling his story without really convincing the reader. However, I think that the thesis argument is entirely valid, and the arguments and information shared help develop and relate an accurate view.
I have been blown away by what I have been listening to, The Sleeper Pins are a combination of Folk and Alt Rock. The lyrics are moving, deeply introspective without feeling cut off from a listener. I find that it feels highly personal, and yet speaks to deep spirituality without being directly religious in its sense of purpose. I think most people with intellect and emotions would appreciate this music, but I can see why it didn't get a lot of airplay, it is far more intelligent and emotionally deep than the average listener of radio.
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“The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white.
Neither need you do anything but be yourself.”
Lao Tzu
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