Once upon a time...

Well, I finished reading Patricia Cornwell’s Jack the Ripper last night at 4:30 AM. The amount of evidence Cornwell was able to discover in a case that is over 114 years old is simply amazing. Through personal papers and correspondence, original police files and photos, Walter Sickert’s own art work which seems to depict Ripper victims, and a partial mitochondrial DNA match between DNA from a Ripper letter and DNA from Sickert’s much beloved painting overalls, I believe that, had the original investigators had such information in 1888, there is a pretty substantial circumstantial case. While Cornwell herself admits that there is no way to know if Sickert really was the Ripper and there is plenty of room for reasonable doubt, I must applaud her efforts. I would also recommend this book to those who enjoy true crime stories. The most damning evidence had to be comparison between Sickert’s art and correspondence and the Ripper’s letter to police along with the crime scene photos. The juxtaposition of Sickert’s art with crime scene photos was pretty damning by themselves in my opinion, especially that of poor Catherine Eddows and Sickert’s painting Putana a Casa.

Now, I’m back to reading Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. I’ve got four more chapters to go and am determined to finish reading it tonight. XD I’m on a roll.