Bizarre twists follow: Holmes disappears for a while and, after he is gravely wounded during an encounter with the Ripper, the killer goes on hiatus, leading an investigative journalist named Dunlevy to speculate that Holmes himself might be the killer.įaye’s debut novel faithfully captures period flavor, though a lighter touch would have been welcome at times. As the number of victims grows, Holmes and Watson follow leads all over the city and the case takes an emotional toll on Lestrade. At great personal risk, she remains in the city’s tenderloin, gathering information. To the consternation of Lestrade, Holmes enlists a covert operative in the person of Mary Ann Monk, who identified the second victim, her friend Polly Nichols, and is anxious to improve her station in life. The perpetrator, whom the press dubs “Jack the Ripper,” begins to send Holmes letters full of taunting braggadocio and threats. Scarcely has Holmes begun questioning the family of the victims when more young women are found murdered. At first Inspector Lestrade is grateful for the insights of the master sleuth. The grisly discovery of a second female victim, slain with equal violence in a disreputable district, awakens Holmes’s special interest. John Watson recalls the events of 1888, when a brutal murder in Whitechapel gripped London and began a reign of terror. Once more Sherlock Holmes pursues Jack the Ripper.
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