What do you think?
Rate this book
The Thames Torso Murders
Dismembered corpses are discovered scattered along the banks of the river Thames, a calculating clinical multiple murderer is on the loose, and the London police have no inkling of the killer’s identity – and, more than a century later, they still don’t. In this, M.J. Trow’s latest reinvestigation of a bizarre and brutal serial killing, he delves deep into the appalling facts of the case, into the futile police investigations, and into the dark history of late Victorian London.
The incredible criminal career of the Thames torso murderer has gripped readers and historians ever since he committed his crimes in the 1870s and 1880s. The case poses as many questions as the even more notorious killings of Jack the Ripper. How, over a period of fifteen years, did the Thames murderer get away with a succession of monstrous and sensational misdeeds? And what sort of perverted character was he, why did he take such risks, why did he kill again and again?
The incredible criminal career of the Thames torso murderer has gripped readers and historians ever since he committed his crimes in the 1870s and 1880s. The case poses as many questions as the even more notorious killings of Jack the Ripper. How, over a period of fifteen years, did the Thames murderer get away with a succession of monstrous and sensational misdeeds? And what sort of perverted character was he, why did he take such risks, why did he kill again and again?
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2011
30 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Trow
149 books119 followersMeirion James Trow is a full-time teacher of history who has been doubling as a crime writer for seventeen years. Originally from Ferndale, Rhondda in South Wales he now lives on the Isle of Wight. His interests include collecting militaria, film, the supernatural and true crime.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 27, 2015
I'm of two minds about M. J. Trow. On the one hand, he is clearly extremely intelligent and his analytical abilities are superb--as is the clear, sharp way he swings the sword of common sense in discussions of the possible identity of Jack the Ripper. On the other, he is sloppy as a researcher and he has a sort of P. T. Barnum sense of showmanship that for me does nothing but get in the way.
After the disorganization caused by Trow sacrificing clarity for a good hook, the worst problem I had with this book was that, although the various locations along the Thames are critical to the narrative, there is no map. For someone unfamiliar with London, this makes the book extremely difficult to follow.
With that said:
This is one of only two books devoted to the Thames Torso Murders. (The other is The Thames Torso Murders of Victorian Britain (2002), which apparently is committed to the ridiculous thesis that the Thames Torso Murderer and Jack the Ripper were the same person.) It is made unnecessarily confusing by Trow's choice to start in 1887, work his way up to 1889, and then go back to 1873, 1874, and 1884. This is obviously a strategy deployed to make the most of the Jack the Ripper connection, and it's unnecessary, especially since Trow is very clear on the fact that the Thames Torso Murderer was not Jack the Ripper: these were men with very different modi operandi at basically every point you can think of, and again I appreciate Trow's basic common sense in refusing to be swayed by the chronological coincidence.
The Thames Torso Murderer murdered and dismembered seven (eight?) women between 1873 and 1889. Of those seven, only the last of them, Elizabeth Jackson, was ever identified. Trow describes the progress of the crimes and the fruitless investigations, and continues throughout to put the Thames Torso Murderer in his proper context in late Victorian London, as for example: "The pickle jar found on the 13th [June] had no connection with the Thames mystery. It did contain the body of a foetus, but in [Dr] Kempster's opinion, had not come from the murdered woman" (64). Trow has an excellent later chapter entitled "Men Behaviing Madly," in which he discusses all the other potentially homicidal lunatics wandering around London in this same general time period--men whom we know about because they have been unearthed as possible Jacks the Ripper: Aaron Davis Cohen, Thomas Hayne Cutbush, Oswald Puckeridge, Jacob Isenschmid, Aaron Kosminski, Charles Ludwig, William Henry Pigott, John Sanders, G Wentworth Bell Smith, James Kelly, Thomas Neill Cream (actually a serial killer), George Chapman (actually a serial killer). The Thames Torso Murderer is terrifying--no idea who he is, no idea where he killed his victims or where he actually dropped their bodies into the river, no idea how he chose them or lured them in--but so is the world in which he lived. The foreground doesn't exist without the background.
(Victorian London sometimes seems like it must be made up, except that if you tried to put it in a novel, no one would believe you.)
Rather like Jack the Ripper, the Thames Torso Murderer does not inhabit a story with a beginning, middle, and end. We begin in medias res (with Martha Tabram or Polly Nichols, depending on your theory about the Ripper, and with the lady whose body--including the skin of her face and scalp--was found starting at Battersea on 5 September 1873) we careen or meander from murder to murder, and we don't have an ending so much as a trail going cold after Mary Jane Kelly (or Alice Mackenzie or Rose Mylett or Frances Coles, again depending on your theory) and after Elizabeth Jackson and her 7-month foetus. We know, and can deduce, even less about the Thames Torso Murderer than we can about Jack. I like Trow's theory that the Thames Torso Murderer was a cat's-meat man--and Trow includes a description of the horrifying end waiting for the some 26,000 a year of London's cab horses that were sent to the slaughterhouse (hello, Black Beauty)--but even there, even if that's true, there were hundreds of cat's-meat men in London (per Mayhew), and we don't know anything more about them than that.
As with Jack, there aren't any answers, just the evidence the murderer chose to leave behind.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in the Thames Torso Murders, I have to recommend this book because it's one of only two, and it's not trying to make the Thames Torso Murders fit into an artificial pattern (such as suggesting that this murderer and Jack the Ripper are the same person).
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in Victorian London more generally--and have a very strong stomach--I also recommend it, because of the superb job Trow does in evoking the context of these murders. It's a view of London you aren't otherwise going to get.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in the history of serial killers, I recommend this book, if for no other reason than that of view of the Thames Torso Murderer has been so obstructed by Rippermania that we barely even know he exists.
OTHERWISE, this book is probably not for you.
After the disorganization caused by Trow sacrificing clarity for a good hook, the worst problem I had with this book was that, although the various locations along the Thames are critical to the narrative, there is no map. For someone unfamiliar with London, this makes the book extremely difficult to follow.
With that said:
This is one of only two books devoted to the Thames Torso Murders. (The other is The Thames Torso Murders of Victorian Britain (2002), which apparently is committed to the ridiculous thesis that the Thames Torso Murderer and Jack the Ripper were the same person.) It is made unnecessarily confusing by Trow's choice to start in 1887, work his way up to 1889, and then go back to 1873, 1874, and 1884. This is obviously a strategy deployed to make the most of the Jack the Ripper connection, and it's unnecessary, especially since Trow is very clear on the fact that the Thames Torso Murderer was not Jack the Ripper: these were men with very different modi operandi at basically every point you can think of, and again I appreciate Trow's basic common sense in refusing to be swayed by the chronological coincidence.
The Thames Torso Murderer murdered and dismembered seven (eight?) women between 1873 and 1889. Of those seven, only the last of them, Elizabeth Jackson, was ever identified. Trow describes the progress of the crimes and the fruitless investigations, and continues throughout to put the Thames Torso Murderer in his proper context in late Victorian London, as for example: "The pickle jar found on the 13th [June] had no connection with the Thames mystery. It did contain the body of a foetus, but in [Dr] Kempster's opinion, had not come from the murdered woman" (64). Trow has an excellent later chapter entitled "Men Behaviing Madly," in which he discusses all the other potentially homicidal lunatics wandering around London in this same general time period--men whom we know about because they have been unearthed as possible Jacks the Ripper: Aaron Davis Cohen, Thomas Hayne Cutbush, Oswald Puckeridge, Jacob Isenschmid, Aaron Kosminski, Charles Ludwig, William Henry Pigott, John Sanders, G Wentworth Bell Smith, James Kelly, Thomas Neill Cream (actually a serial killer), George Chapman (actually a serial killer). The Thames Torso Murderer is terrifying--no idea who he is, no idea where he killed his victims or where he actually dropped their bodies into the river, no idea how he chose them or lured them in--but so is the world in which he lived. The foreground doesn't exist without the background.
(Victorian London sometimes seems like it must be made up, except that if you tried to put it in a novel, no one would believe you.)
Rather like Jack the Ripper, the Thames Torso Murderer does not inhabit a story with a beginning, middle, and end. We begin in medias res (with Martha Tabram or Polly Nichols, depending on your theory about the Ripper, and with the lady whose body--including the skin of her face and scalp--was found starting at Battersea on 5 September 1873) we careen or meander from murder to murder, and we don't have an ending so much as a trail going cold after Mary Jane Kelly (or Alice Mackenzie or Rose Mylett or Frances Coles, again depending on your theory) and after Elizabeth Jackson and her 7-month foetus. We know, and can deduce, even less about the Thames Torso Murderer than we can about Jack. I like Trow's theory that the Thames Torso Murderer was a cat's-meat man--and Trow includes a description of the horrifying end waiting for the some 26,000 a year of London's cab horses that were sent to the slaughterhouse (hello, Black Beauty)--but even there, even if that's true, there were hundreds of cat's-meat men in London (per Mayhew), and we don't know anything more about them than that.
As with Jack, there aren't any answers, just the evidence the murderer chose to leave behind.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in the Thames Torso Murders, I have to recommend this book because it's one of only two, and it's not trying to make the Thames Torso Murders fit into an artificial pattern (such as suggesting that this murderer and Jack the Ripper are the same person).
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in Victorian London more generally--and have a very strong stomach--I also recommend it, because of the superb job Trow does in evoking the context of these murders. It's a view of London you aren't otherwise going to get.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in the history of serial killers, I recommend this book, if for no other reason than that of view of the Thames Torso Murderer has been so obstructed by Rippermania that we barely even know he exists.
OTHERWISE, this book is probably not for you.
December 3, 2014
The interesting thing about these murders is very few people even know about them. The Ripper crimes totally obscured any coverage or interest. Yet they really are just as gruesome if not more so, since only parts of dismembered bodies were found and most have not been identified.
MJ Trow has written some very excellent books on the subject of the Ripper and I was curious to see how he presented this. I was put off a bit by the VERY detailed history of the Thames and its London districts. Too much - information overload. And yet, probably very useful in a deeper understanding of some facets of the case. (Not to mention all the references remind me of current Sherlock locations....)
The sad thing is that most of the historical documents and information has been lost (more so than even the Ripper case) so even with the obviously painstaking research done here, it will not be possible to really know much more about this series of murders.
But it is interesting and it also tells us about another serial murder loose in London during Victorian times, overlapping with the Ripper's crimes.
MJ Trow has written some very excellent books on the subject of the Ripper and I was curious to see how he presented this. I was put off a bit by the VERY detailed history of the Thames and its London districts. Too much - information overload. And yet, probably very useful in a deeper understanding of some facets of the case. (Not to mention all the references remind me of current Sherlock locations....)
The sad thing is that most of the historical documents and information has been lost (more so than even the Ripper case) so even with the obviously painstaking research done here, it will not be possible to really know much more about this series of murders.
But it is interesting and it also tells us about another serial murder loose in London during Victorian times, overlapping with the Ripper's crimes.
December 28, 2025
DNF - stopped at 37%.
-
extremely slow to get going. the first chapter, with its incessant description of the Thames/London genuinely put me to sleep when I first read it, and as such I left the book untouched for about a year after I made it through the first couple of chapters.
it's clear Trow has done his research into a case with limited information, but it often results in him going on tangents, mostly in regard to the history of London's geography, with little reason. while informative (and interesting for some, albeit not me), I struggled to follow along at times. given the time period, the overshadowing of Jack the Ripper's murders was an inevitable topic that was going to be brought up, but an entire chapter about it felt unnecessary. Trow says "it's important to evaluate the effect/impact they had on London at the time" and while I don't disagree, there is very little of it in the following pages. it's clear he wants to tell a story and "infodump", borderline feeding into the sensationalism of the Whitechapel murders at times, than really evaluate the effect they had – and any attempt at evaluation comes across as shallow. the conclusion of the chapter was sorely disappointing: this was the perfect time to talk about how the Ripper murders and media frenzy allowed the Thames Torso killer to walk free, but Trow simply leaves it at "they were clearly not the same person, and the torso killer must have been thankful his crimes were hidden by Jack" and instead tries to speculate on an extra Ripper murder.
this chapter, only ~25% of the way through, yet again put me off reading. it's disappointing – the Thames Torso Murders is an interesting series of events/murders that were overshadowed by Jack the Ripper, and so I was "excited" to find Trow's book shining light on it, but he does so in the most boring manner. there are moments where the book *appears* to be finally "interesting" or picking up, only for it to dip not long after, or for Trow to make a speculation that just immediately pulls me out of the "immersion".
this book is "only" 215 pages long, but it felt at least twice as long with how slow it was. by chapter 6 I had had enough, and tapped out.
-
extremely slow to get going. the first chapter, with its incessant description of the Thames/London genuinely put me to sleep when I first read it, and as such I left the book untouched for about a year after I made it through the first couple of chapters.
it's clear Trow has done his research into a case with limited information, but it often results in him going on tangents, mostly in regard to the history of London's geography, with little reason. while informative (and interesting for some, albeit not me), I struggled to follow along at times. given the time period, the overshadowing of Jack the Ripper's murders was an inevitable topic that was going to be brought up, but an entire chapter about it felt unnecessary. Trow says "it's important to evaluate the effect/impact they had on London at the time" and while I don't disagree, there is very little of it in the following pages. it's clear he wants to tell a story and "infodump", borderline feeding into the sensationalism of the Whitechapel murders at times, than really evaluate the effect they had – and any attempt at evaluation comes across as shallow. the conclusion of the chapter was sorely disappointing: this was the perfect time to talk about how the Ripper murders and media frenzy allowed the Thames Torso killer to walk free, but Trow simply leaves it at "they were clearly not the same person, and the torso killer must have been thankful his crimes were hidden by Jack" and instead tries to speculate on an extra Ripper murder.
this chapter, only ~25% of the way through, yet again put me off reading. it's disappointing – the Thames Torso Murders is an interesting series of events/murders that were overshadowed by Jack the Ripper, and so I was "excited" to find Trow's book shining light on it, but he does so in the most boring manner. there are moments where the book *appears* to be finally "interesting" or picking up, only for it to dip not long after, or for Trow to make a speculation that just immediately pulls me out of the "immersion".
this book is "only" 215 pages long, but it felt at least twice as long with how slow it was. by chapter 6 I had had enough, and tapped out.
July 12, 2015
This is an excellent book and tells everything that we can now know about the man who, over 100 years ago, murdered and dismembered several women and dumped their body parts in the Thames. Many of his victims, like the killer himself, remain unidentified and the case is all but forgotten today except as a footnote to the Jack the Ripper case, since the Ripper and the Torso Killer were operating in London at the same time.
A word of warning: M.J. Trow spends much of the book NOT talking about the Torso Killer. He discusses other cases (Jack the Ripper, the Green River Killer, the unsolved "Jack the Stripper" murders in the 1960s, etc.), and compares them to the Torso Killer's crimes. I thought this was a good idea. Other readers may find it annoying.
Trow winds up making some postulations about the Torso Killer that make a lot of sense, and some of them are very specific. For example, he believes the killer was a horse slaughterer and/or butcher and thinks he's identified the place where the killer worked (in both the "working for money" sense and in the "killing" sense, since Trow thinks he did the killing and dismemberment at his place of employment), and therefore his employer. There are no lists left of employees from that time and place, so Trow doesn't go so far as to provide any provide any potential names, and he's careful to emphasize that this is just his IDEA, his THEORY, and none of the notions in his theory need be considered to be a fact. But I've never seen a person writing about historical unsolved crimes go so far as to suggest where the killer worked.
I really liked the book actually, thought it was well-written and well-researched. It's not for everybody, but I think fans of historical true crime will like it. Jack the Ripper hobbyists in particular might enjoy it.
A word of warning: M.J. Trow spends much of the book NOT talking about the Torso Killer. He discusses other cases (Jack the Ripper, the Green River Killer, the unsolved "Jack the Stripper" murders in the 1960s, etc.), and compares them to the Torso Killer's crimes. I thought this was a good idea. Other readers may find it annoying.
Trow winds up making some postulations about the Torso Killer that make a lot of sense, and some of them are very specific. For example, he believes the killer was a horse slaughterer and/or butcher and thinks he's identified the place where the killer worked (in both the "working for money" sense and in the "killing" sense, since Trow thinks he did the killing and dismemberment at his place of employment), and therefore his employer. There are no lists left of employees from that time and place, so Trow doesn't go so far as to provide any provide any potential names, and he's careful to emphasize that this is just his IDEA, his THEORY, and none of the notions in his theory need be considered to be a fact. But I've never seen a person writing about historical unsolved crimes go so far as to suggest where the killer worked.
I really liked the book actually, thought it was well-written and well-researched. It's not for everybody, but I think fans of historical true crime will like it. Jack the Ripper hobbyists in particular might enjoy it.
September 4, 2021
I love a good murder mystery. I especially love a good murder mystery where the murderer is never found. That's probably why I'm so fascinated with Jack the Ripper. Now, I had heard of the Thames Torso Murders but really only read about them in passing - so when I was given the opportunity to read and review this book by M.J. Trow I jumped at the chance. A murder mystery AND learning about something I don't know a lot about? I'll take it!
The book starts with an incredibly detailed description of the Thames and the areas around it, which I really enjoyed - Trow went into much of the history of the areas around the Thames, going back to pre history to show the reader how things changed. Whilst I found this really interesting and a hell of a page turner, I do feel like the detail could put some readers off.
Trow then goes through the murders, the finding of the pieces of these poor women's corpses floating in the Thames or washed up on the foreshore. He then goes in to the investigations that the police at the time did, the inquests etc and how literally nothing came of any of it. The lack of evidence left behind certainly didn't help matters - and given that there was no DNA analysis or the sort of technology that the police would use today, it was less than impossible to find the person who committed these heinous crimes.
There is a lot of comparisons and references to the Ripper's crimes, and Trow goes through how some thought it was the same person who committed both crimes. He also goes through some of the likely suspects and just why they aren't actually very likely at all. We also go through the psychology of the serial killer, looking at modern day murderers and how similar our Torso killer is to them. I found this part really interesting as I have bit of a morbid fascination with serial killers and true crime - anyone who knows me will know I'm fascinated by Dahmer, for instance. With all of this, and unfortunately a lack of evidence from the time thanks to it either disappearing or not existing at all, Trow then describes who he thinks would be the most likely suspect in this case - and I must say it's very convincing. A Cat's Meat Man, transporting meat around London in a cart? Who would have access to places where horses were killed and dissected, and likely had access when these places were empty? How the horses in these places were killed with a shot to the head and how that could be a reason why the bodies found had no heads? It all sounds very suspicious to me, and I was convinced by Trow's theory.
An excellent read all round and I would recommend this to anyone interested in true crime and the Ripper case, looking to learn a little more about the Thames torso murders which are often only referenced as a footnote in Ripper books. Whilst the murderer is obviously not the same person, these did happen around the same sort of time so there is a link. A highly recommended read and a book that I very much enjoyed.
The book starts with an incredibly detailed description of the Thames and the areas around it, which I really enjoyed - Trow went into much of the history of the areas around the Thames, going back to pre history to show the reader how things changed. Whilst I found this really interesting and a hell of a page turner, I do feel like the detail could put some readers off.
Trow then goes through the murders, the finding of the pieces of these poor women's corpses floating in the Thames or washed up on the foreshore. He then goes in to the investigations that the police at the time did, the inquests etc and how literally nothing came of any of it. The lack of evidence left behind certainly didn't help matters - and given that there was no DNA analysis or the sort of technology that the police would use today, it was less than impossible to find the person who committed these heinous crimes.
There is a lot of comparisons and references to the Ripper's crimes, and Trow goes through how some thought it was the same person who committed both crimes. He also goes through some of the likely suspects and just why they aren't actually very likely at all. We also go through the psychology of the serial killer, looking at modern day murderers and how similar our Torso killer is to them. I found this part really interesting as I have bit of a morbid fascination with serial killers and true crime - anyone who knows me will know I'm fascinated by Dahmer, for instance. With all of this, and unfortunately a lack of evidence from the time thanks to it either disappearing or not existing at all, Trow then describes who he thinks would be the most likely suspect in this case - and I must say it's very convincing. A Cat's Meat Man, transporting meat around London in a cart? Who would have access to places where horses were killed and dissected, and likely had access when these places were empty? How the horses in these places were killed with a shot to the head and how that could be a reason why the bodies found had no heads? It all sounds very suspicious to me, and I was convinced by Trow's theory.
An excellent read all round and I would recommend this to anyone interested in true crime and the Ripper case, looking to learn a little more about the Thames torso murders which are often only referenced as a footnote in Ripper books. Whilst the murderer is obviously not the same person, these did happen around the same sort of time so there is a link. A highly recommended read and a book that I very much enjoyed.
May 25, 2021
Short, disappointing, doesn't really go anywhere. It's only 155 pages but is nevertheless heavily padded out. If we're being generous, there's only 100 pages on the torso murders in here with the rest dedicated to irrelevant summaries of unrelated cases in different eras which do nothing to illuminate the supposed subject of the book.
There's a chapter summarising Jack the Ripper, a chapter listing various known lunatics of the time who couldn't have been the torso killer, a chapter of pure speculation which is rapidly presented as fact about a "cats meat man" suspect who cannot even be shown to have existed.
The writing style is dull which makes the occasional out of place humorous asides and sudden ironic exclamation marks when the author thinks he has hit upon a wry observation all the more jarring. I didn't get anything out of this to make it a keeper.
There's a chapter summarising Jack the Ripper, a chapter listing various known lunatics of the time who couldn't have been the torso killer, a chapter of pure speculation which is rapidly presented as fact about a "cats meat man" suspect who cannot even be shown to have existed.
The writing style is dull which makes the occasional out of place humorous asides and sudden ironic exclamation marks when the author thinks he has hit upon a wry observation all the more jarring. I didn't get anything out of this to make it a keeper.
August 16, 2017
Not bad
Not bad not great. CleArly you can't fill a book with the thames torso murderers so fill it with every other murderer in history but make sure half the book is about Jack the ripper. It's not like anyone has written about him before.
Not bad not great. CleArly you can't fill a book with the thames torso murderers so fill it with every other murderer in history but make sure half the book is about Jack the ripper. It's not like anyone has written about him before.
October 27, 2016
Bringing Light to unknown crimes
Never knew much about these murders and this book brought them to light in a way that kept my attention all the way through.
Never knew much about these murders and this book brought them to light in a way that kept my attention all the way through.
October 23, 2017
An interesting insight into a true crime I didn't know about before. As enlightening on the late Victorian era as on the subject matter.
May 7, 2018
Not as involved as I thought it would be. Found it more to be about facts & findings. Slightly covers Jack the Ripper and more recent murderers
October 19, 2018
An enjoyable look back into London's lost history
May 20, 2019
Cases I was'nt even aware of!
A very well written work that draws uncomfortable parallels with the better known Ripper cases that unbelievably were occurring at about the same time.
A very well written work that draws uncomfortable parallels with the better known Ripper cases that unbelievably were occurring at about the same time.
September 30, 2015
This thing is all over the place. It starts with a beautiful if slightly trip along the Thames, detailing the history and geography - drawn from literary sources mainly - because the Thames is where most of the body pieces are discovered. What makes it confusing initially is that the writer starts in the middle, instead of with the first body, in order to emphasize how the murderer overlapped Jack the Ripper.
After going forward for a while, then, we jump back in time and look at the first murder.
There are also chapters on other killers and advances in forensic medicine that just seem irrelevant when we're talking about a Victorian murder. They COULD be relevant, but as written they aren't.
All in all, I just don't think it's organized very well. I can't speak to the research involved, but as a layman I definitely found it hard to follow in places.
After going forward for a while, then, we jump back in time and look at the first murder.
There are also chapters on other killers and advances in forensic medicine that just seem irrelevant when we're talking about a Victorian murder. They COULD be relevant, but as written they aren't.
All in all, I just don't think it's organized very well. I can't speak to the research involved, but as a layman I definitely found it hard to follow in places.
August 6, 2016
A fascinating look at the unsolved and oft ignored series of murders that took place prior to, during and after Jack the Ripper's reign of terror in Victorian London.
Dismembered bodies turned up in the Thames 15 years before Jack started slashing prostitutes in Whitechapel.
This book looks at what remains of this crime, how it was handled and where we could possibly find the killer. With so little evidence and no CSI technology, it is impossible to know for sure, but Trow does a fine job clearing away the unlikely suspects.
There's a good deal of reference to the Ripper's murders and some great explorations of London's rivers and buildings, the hierarchy of prostitution in Victorian London, the psychology of serial killers and references to murders elsewhere in past and present.
I found this book fascinating and informative. I found a lot more than what I was expecting!
Dismembered bodies turned up in the Thames 15 years before Jack started slashing prostitutes in Whitechapel.
This book looks at what remains of this crime, how it was handled and where we could possibly find the killer. With so little evidence and no CSI technology, it is impossible to know for sure, but Trow does a fine job clearing away the unlikely suspects.
There's a good deal of reference to the Ripper's murders and some great explorations of London's rivers and buildings, the hierarchy of prostitution in Victorian London, the psychology of serial killers and references to murders elsewhere in past and present.
I found this book fascinating and informative. I found a lot more than what I was expecting!
July 16, 2011
A serial killer who was killing women, chopping them up and dumping them in the Thames in the 1880's. You think we'd have heard more about this but for Jack the Ripper we probably would have.
Interesting book for the history as well as the crime angle, and it's inclusion of other serial killers who operated in London.
Only wish there had been more photographs.
Interesting book for the history as well as the crime angle, and it's inclusion of other serial killers who operated in London.
Only wish there had been more photographs.
September 22, 2015
Very well written. Too much for my small brain to take in!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews