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Hi, How.
Your questions answered
1. Have you any plans in the future for another Ripper-fiction book?
Sort of. I have rough outlines for a prequel and two sequels to the Mary Kelly book, which would bring the story right up to the present day - but whether I ever write them depends on the original novel being picked up by a mainstream publisher (I now realise that I am just too lazy, and have too many other irons in the fire, to handle the marketing myself). In the meantime I’m working on another book, set partly in the present and partly in the early 17th century, with a plot that revolves around a very strange inheritance (can’t really tell you more than that at the moment).
2. What was you introduction to your present involvement in researching and reading about the Whitechapel Murders? Did it stem from childhood or perhaps an interest developed from hearing about the Maybrick Diary ( as an example...)?
Back in the days when I had a proper job (that was back in the eighties, and I still have the nightmares) I used to work opposite St Botolph’s church – and within a stone’s throw of Mitre Square. Being so close to the murder sites, I began reading up on the subject, and visiting the sites – like you do. I became really fascinated by it for a while – so it was very easy to get back into the research once I’d decided to write the book.
3. Which individual within the whole of the Case is most intriguing to you even though we all know you wrote a book devoted to Mary Kelly? Could it be someone else?
Well, I would have to stick with Mary as first choice. She is such a complete enigma. If only half the stories about her were true, she’d still have had the most amazing changes of fortune in her possibly short life.
4. Which social change do you think that Jack The Ripper affected the most ... the press, the police, the political approach to the poor or perhaps the people themselves?
My money would be on the press. There is a Linley Sambourne cartoon from the period, lampooning the growing trend toward newspaper sensationalism. I think it quite likely that Jack the Ripper didn’t give birth to the twentieth century so much as to today’s tabloid press.
5. If one of the letters to the press, police, or private individuals was from the Ripper ... which do you believe it was?
I doubt any one of them was from the Ripper – but who knows? Still, talking of the letters, I thought you might enjoy this – it was a scene that never made it into the finished book. It’s set in the dissecting room of the London Hospital, and pretty much sums up my take on the letters.
Your questions answered
1. Have you any plans in the future for another Ripper-fiction book?
Sort of. I have rough outlines for a prequel and two sequels to the Mary Kelly book, which would bring the story right up to the present day - but whether I ever write them depends on the original novel being picked up by a mainstream publisher (I now realise that I am just too lazy, and have too many other irons in the fire, to handle the marketing myself). In the meantime I’m working on another book, set partly in the present and partly in the early 17th century, with a plot that revolves around a very strange inheritance (can’t really tell you more than that at the moment).
2. What was you introduction to your present involvement in researching and reading about the Whitechapel Murders? Did it stem from childhood or perhaps an interest developed from hearing about the Maybrick Diary ( as an example...)?
Back in the days when I had a proper job (that was back in the eighties, and I still have the nightmares) I used to work opposite St Botolph’s church – and within a stone’s throw of Mitre Square. Being so close to the murder sites, I began reading up on the subject, and visiting the sites – like you do. I became really fascinated by it for a while – so it was very easy to get back into the research once I’d decided to write the book.
3. Which individual within the whole of the Case is most intriguing to you even though we all know you wrote a book devoted to Mary Kelly? Could it be someone else?
Well, I would have to stick with Mary as first choice. She is such a complete enigma. If only half the stories about her were true, she’d still have had the most amazing changes of fortune in her possibly short life.
4. Which social change do you think that Jack The Ripper affected the most ... the press, the police, the political approach to the poor or perhaps the people themselves?
My money would be on the press. There is a Linley Sambourne cartoon from the period, lampooning the growing trend toward newspaper sensationalism. I think it quite likely that Jack the Ripper didn’t give birth to the twentieth century so much as to today’s tabloid press.
5. If one of the letters to the press, police, or private individuals was from the Ripper ... which do you believe it was?
I doubt any one of them was from the Ripper – but who knows? Still, talking of the letters, I thought you might enjoy this – it was a scene that never made it into the finished book. It’s set in the dissecting room of the London Hospital, and pretty much sums up my take on the letters.
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