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Whitechapel in the autumn
of 1888 is the home of reclusive photographer Sarah Bain.
She has earned some extra money by taking illegal “boudoir
photographs” of some of the area’s prostitutes,
but two of her subjects have been found brutally murdered.
Sarah decides to take the law in her own hands like her political
activist father, and starts to investigate as the bodies pile
up, all women she has taken photographs of. For the first
time in her life, she is not friendless, as her investigations
have helped assemble an unlikely team of sleuths: a pair of
Russian Jews, the gay son of a Duke, a street urchin and a
beautiful music hall actress. Soon they are going to discover
who the Ripper is, and then their problems will start in earnest…
I have long been a fan of this author’s Sano Ichiro
series so was keen to delve into this one. It didn’t
disappoint, as the reader is plunged into a well-described
Whitechapel from the first page and the action does not let
up. There have been a lot of novels written about Jack the
Ripper and it is not easy to bring anything new or different
to yet another one, but this novel manages better than most.
Having a woman who is slightly outside society to investigate
is part of the reason, together with a team of associates
who are also outcasts in their own ways. In this retelling
the police are set against them, thinking them guilty of being
involved with the killings, and they have to elude them at
every turn as well as investigating. Inspector Abberline is
oddly absent from all this, and despite the obviously gory
and gruesome nature of the crimes, there was not quite the
overpowering sense of horror and fear that I felt was needed.
This was something new to the people of 1888 and I didn’t
feel that this came over enough. Minor gripe aside, this is
also a novel about personal growth, and how Sarah and her
companions start to overcome their personal problems as they
become friends and work together. This is the book’s
particular strength; the characters become better, stronger
people and this sense of improvement lifts the book up from
the common run of Ripper/serial killer novels and provides
some essential light in a dark tale. I hope this is going
to be the start of a series and, if it is, I will be wanting
to read on. Recommended
Reviewers Note: Some gory parts
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