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A review by endomental
Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth by Colin Wilson, Bruce Paley
4.0
I don't remember how I stumbled across this one. It may have been a Kindle recommendation. Regardless, I was intrigued by the recommendations from "Ripperologists" about the detail and detection work, so I picked it up.
Author Bruce Paley offers his solution at the beginning, that the Ripper was Joseph Barnett, the estranged common-law husband of the Ripper's final victim, Mary Jane Kelly.
He builds a good case, using relevant facts. Paley has dug into some detail about Barnett's life and the investigation into the Whitechapel murders. Even so, I found myself channeling my inner lawyer as I read. "Assumes facts not in evidence!"
Paley is usually clear when he has no proof of his claims, and uses lots of qualifying words like "must have been," "should have" and "probably." That doesn't make his assumptions facts.
I'm no expert in the crimes by any means. I came away from the book with a suspect I hadn't considered before (not that I spend a lot of time considering suspects in this case). But I'm not convinced.
By the way, I read the Kindle version. It looked like it was badly scraped from a pdf file. Simply awful errors and erroneous text.
Author Bruce Paley offers his solution at the beginning, that the Ripper was Joseph Barnett, the estranged common-law husband of the Ripper's final victim, Mary Jane Kelly.
He builds a good case, using relevant facts. Paley has dug into some detail about Barnett's life and the investigation into the Whitechapel murders. Even so, I found myself channeling my inner lawyer as I read. "Assumes facts not in evidence!"
Paley is usually clear when he has no proof of his claims, and uses lots of qualifying words like "must have been," "should have" and "probably." That doesn't make his assumptions facts.
I'm no expert in the crimes by any means. I came away from the book with a suspect I hadn't considered before (not that I spend a lot of time considering suspects in this case). But I'm not convinced.
By the way, I read the Kindle version. It looked like it was badly scraped from a pdf file. Simply awful errors and erroneous text.