In this shrewd and witty novel, Victorian London for the poor is brought to life with compelling authority - hard, menial work; violence; prostitution; disease. A masterly evocation of the practice of medicine in 1888 - the year of Jack the Ripper - it is also a medical mystery. Why were his victims so silent and why so little blood?

Miscast in the media for nearly 130 years, the victims of Jack the Ripper finally get their full stories told in this eye-opening and chilling reminder that life for middle-class women in Victorian London could be full of social pitfalls and peril.

After 125 years of theorizing and speculation regarding the identity of Jack the Ripper, Russell Edwards is in the unique position of owning the first physical evidence relating to the crimes to have emerged since 1888. This evidence is from one of the crime scenes, and has now been rigorously examined by some of the most highly-qualified forensic scientists in the country who have ascertained its true provenance. With the help of modern forensic techniques, Russell's ground-breaking discoveries provide conclusive answers to many of the most challenging mysterious surrounding the case.

What if you thought your husband was Jack the Ripper? London, 1888. Susannah rushes into marriage to a young and wealthy surgeon. After a passionate honeymoon, she returns home with her new husband wrapped around her little finger. But then everything changes. His behaviour becomes increasingly volatile and violent. He stays out all night, returning home bloodied and full of secrets. Lonely and frustrated, Susannah starts following the gruesome reports of a spate of murders in Whitechapel. But as the killings continue, her mind takes her down the darkest path imaginable. Every time he stays out late, another victim is found dead. Is it coincidence? Or is her husband the man the papers call Jack the Ripper? Reviews for People of Abandoned Character: 'A mistreated wife suspects her husband might be the Whitechapel killer... Compelling' Sunday Times 'An astonishing book' M.W. Craven 'A gripping and original take on the world's most notorious serial killer. A perfectly thrilling read for those long winter nights' Adam Hamdy 'This impressive debut builds up pace, pathos and intrigue superbly, with plenty of twists and turns' Woman's Weekly

Previously published in 2020 by Amberley Publishing.

An investigation into the man Scotland Yard thought (but couldn't prove) was Jack the Ripper Dozens of theories have attempted to resolve the mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper, the world's most famous serial killer. Ripperologist Robert House contends that we may have known the answer all along. The head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department at the time of the murders thought Aaron Kozminski was guilty, but he lacked the legal proof to convict him. By exploring Kozminski's life, House builds a strong circumstantial case against him, showing not only that he had means, motive, and opportunity, but also that he fit the general profile of a serial killer as defined by the FBI today. The first book to explore the life of Aaron Kozminski, one of Scotland Yard's top suspects in the quest to identify Jack the Ripper Combines historical research and contemporary criminal profiling techniques to solve one of the most vexing criminal mysteries of all time Draws on a decade of research by the author, including trips to Poland and England to uncover Kozminski's past and details of the case Includes a Foreword by Roy Hazelwood, a former FBI profiler and pioneer of profiling sexual predators Features dozens of photographs and illustrations Building a thorough and convincing case that completes the work begun by Scotland Yard more than a century ago, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know who really committed Jack the Ripper's heinous and unforgettable crimes.

One of the most popular of all Ripper suspects, Montague Druitt appears on the surface an unlikely killer. Born into a comfortable bourgeois family, he was educated at New College, Oxford, qualified for the Bar and played cricket for a number of strong club sides. But, there was another side to the agreeable Mr Druitt. He moved in the artistic and aristocratic circles that overlapped with London's secretive homosexual culture, was summarily dismissed from his post at a boys' school, and a few weeks later was found drowned in the Thames, just months after the Jack the Ripper murders. Six years later, Chief Constable Sir Melville Macnaughten named Druitt as the murderer and gave the unhappy barrister a kind of immortality. D J Leighton has dug deep into the background to Druitt's unhappy life and uncovered a web of intriguing connections linking the eldest son of the heir to the throne, the Cambridge Apostles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Virginia Woolf and the cricketing legend Prince Kumar Ranjitsinhji. The book is a fascinating period piece that deftly weaves together the criminal, sporting, aristocratic and homosexual worlds of late nineteenth-century London, in search of the truth behind Macnaughten's surprising allegations. This book is an excellent piece of of period crime history with a Jack the Ripper setting. It is a colourful Victorian underworld story, mixing high society with scandal, the golden age of amateur cricket and murder. It is the authoritative debunking of the case for Druitt as Jack the Ripper. This book weaves together the criminal, sporting, aristocratic and homosexual worlds of late nineteenth-century London in search of the truth behind Sir Melville Macnaughten's surprising allegations.