SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE RIPPER OF WHITECHAPEL

Sherlock Holmes investigates the murders of Jack the Ripper in this detective novel.

“Five. Fifteen more and then I give myself up.” So reads a letter to the police from the self-christened Jack the Ripper in 1888, and the local police call upon famed detective Holmes to aid in the investigation of five ghastly murders of women in the Whitechapel area of London. The case takes a psychological toll on Holmes, who narrates this tale, as inept police officers routinely bungle the collection of important evidence, and his partner, Dr. John H. Watson, is newly married, which alters the dynamic of their own relationship. When Holmes inspects a second letter from the Ripper, the detective realizes that the killer is referencing one of his past cases. This revelation, paired with the recently suspicious actions of Watson, leads Holmes to a highly disturbing thought: Could his friend and business partner have something to do with the heinous murders? In her newest novel, Wiseman, the author of The Kithseeker(2018), offers a compelling story that combines the gruesome history of the Ripper and his crimes with the logic and intellect of the consulting detective of Baker Street. The mystery is well paced, picking up delightfully during crucial moments of the investigation, as when townsfolk cry, “Murder! Police!” at the conclusion of one chapter or when Holmes later declares, “Seven. And thirteen more. I must move fast.” Wiseman’s language is reminiscent of that in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories and fully places the reader in the seedy surroundings of Whitechapel in the Victorian era. Similarly, the experience of dissecting the case alongside the brilliant sleuth—who, as one character notes, can see “what is darkness to the rest of us”—remains a pleasure even as appropriately grisly details of the murders are revealed. It will be an absorbing read for Sherlock-ians and fans of true crime, and it will keep readers on their toes throughout.

A thoroughly engrossing story that elegantly blends history and fiction.