A review by thebooktrail88
Jack the Ripper: Case Closed by Gyles Brandreth

5.0

Visit the locations in the novelJack the ripper

This novel speaks to me on so many levels. Arthur Conan Doyle fascinates me in many ways. I know he was into mysteries in real life, the supernatural, the unknown and the other wordly, so what would he have made of Jack the Ripper?

There’s a lot to love:

The trail around London to the sites of the five canonical murders

More murders which take place in 1894 and are investigated as being committed by “Jack”.

The friendship between Oscar and Arthur , the banter, mystery and intrigue of being in their worlds as well as the very real one of Jack the Ripper and the fear that still endured. Very cleverly it’s written in the first person in the words of Arthur Conan Doyle. An author as character? Well I was just in literary heaven. As for Oscar Wilde, he seems like a right character! Full of colourful words and even more colourful actions, he’s a fun and fascinating man. The real friendship between them comes through loud and clear and add the Jack the Ripper mystery to the mix and I was sucked in from the very start.

How did I not know about this series of books where Oscar Wilde is the main character of such compelling mysteries? I am now excited to be going back to book one and to able to step inside this mix of fact and fiction. I really felt as I was in the presence of two great writers and the very real atmosphere of fear which would have existed not long after the Ripper murders. What I really loved was the warmth wit and banter between the two of them is what makes all this so believable. Some of it is, of course, and that’s what makes it so brilliant. The suspects we all know are there but so too are the fictional ones or ones brought in to suggest new suspects…..

A literary feast of delights. I have the pleasure of now going off and reading the others. Gyles, I thank you.