Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars | 3,554 ratings

Price: 21.88

Last update: 01-09-2025


About this item

From New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell comes Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, a comprehensive and intriguing exposé of one of the world's most chilling cases of serial murder - and the police force that failed to solve it.

Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art - as well as extensive evidence - points to another name, one that's left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material - including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause - and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.

Incorporating material from Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed, this new edition has been revised and expanded to include eight new chapters.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Suzanne Smith
    5.0 out of 5 stars Confident open-minded approach gave the book a broader scope
    Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2024
    This is an organized and well-researched read, with a mass of data that clearly supports the author's theory that the famous artist, Walter Sickert, was Jack the Ripper. We learn about the bizarre behavior of Sickert from correspondence between his family and friends, how similar Sickert’s cruel, twisted sentiments were to those expressed in letters written by the Ripper, and how some of the most damning pieces of physical evidence, such as the identical watermarks found on several of the Ripper letters and Sickert's stationery, were ignored. There’s also a detailed timeline that includes Sickert’s possible whereabouts during each of the murders, as well as a number of disturbing, but fascinating pictures of the Ripper’s victims. I liked everything about this book, but perhaps what I appreciated the most was the author’s willingness to address and explore several alternate schools of thought. This confident, open-minded approach gave the book a broader, more objective scope. I highly recommend Ripper.
    Customer image
    Suzanne Smith
    5.0 out of 5 stars Confident open-minded approach gave the book a broader scope
    Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2024
    This is an organized and well-researched read, with a mass of data that clearly supports the author's theory that the famous artist, Walter Sickert, was Jack the Ripper. We learn about the bizarre behavior of Sickert from correspondence between his family and friends, how similar Sickert’s cruel, twisted sentiments were to those expressed in letters written by the Ripper, and how some of the most damning pieces of physical evidence, such as the identical watermarks found on several of the Ripper letters and Sickert's stationery, were ignored. There’s also a detailed timeline that includes Sickert’s possible whereabouts during each of the murders, as well as a number of disturbing, but fascinating pictures of the Ripper’s victims. I liked everything about this book, but perhaps what I appreciated the most was the author’s willingness to address and explore several alternate schools of thought. This confident, open-minded approach gave the book a broader, more objective scope. I highly recommend Ripper.
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  • Angela
    4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but probably not in the way she intended.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2017
    Cornwell's work on the Ripper is entertaining - not in the manner of a master detective putting the pieces together. More in the manner of an eccentric aunt who comes to family get-togethers once every few years and, after drinking a few glasses of wine, will tell you exactly who killed Kennedy and why with the authority of someone who was there even though she wasn't born at the time.
    Cornwell's entire case is subjective and her facts are mostly insinuation.
    In fact, her book should be taught in classrooms as a classic example of how to create propaganda. She conflates Sickert and the Ripper constantly - not even separating the two in the most basic sense of the persona of the Ripper vs the persona of Sickert. Often she'll use the name Sickert when referring to the Rippers actions and call Sickert the Ripper when referring to Sickert's known actions. It was a little confusing at times.
    Facts about Sickert are placed next to possible activities of the Ripper - one example that made me laugh out loud is a bloody bakers knife that might have been from a Ripper crime next to "Sickert loved to bake". That sounds like evidence to me. Jeez.
    Its hard to say how she came to her conclusions about Sickert's inner life and relationships. Quotes about him are usually completely decontextualized - in one section a whole sentence is made out of multiple one or two word quotes. She does have a good explanation as to why she doesn't quote more extensively (the people who control these sources wouldn't give permission). I'd be more inclined to believe her version of these stories but her whole perspective of Sickert seems to be colored by the intense emotional response she had to his paintings. I looked at many of the paintings she references and I have to say I do NOT see what she sees.
    Suddenly everything is evidence of guilt, even stuff that was common (Sickert was intrigued by the Ripper, snubbed Oscar Wilde after his imprisonment and owned a red kerchief) and a few things that contradicted. Sickert didn't regularly date or mark location on his letters. SNEAKY. Sickert regularly made dated drawings that showed exactly where he was. Oh slipped up! He could have been near some Ripper killings. Sickert was a germophobe. Ripper probably killed in a manner that would make it easier to avoid bodily fluids. Ripper wrapped body parts in newspaper. Sickert wrapped paintings in newspaper. Sickert had multiple art studios. No one knew their locations so now they're bolt holes. Maybe they're near the murders? Who knows? Sounds incriminating to me. Ripper might have worn disguises. Sickert had a habit of wearing disguises. I mean, really?
    Supposedly she showed her evidence to an officer who said she had enough for a search warrant. I'd like to know what evidence that was, because I see no evidence.
    There are a few interesting points she makes. Its probable that Sickert (or someone close to him) wrote a couple of "Ripper letters". This isn't really surprising - based on what I've read about the time period Ripper letters were the Twitter parody accounts of the time. I've read at least one contemporary account (that unfortunately I don't remember the source for) that casually mentioned a relative who wrote Ripper letters and then watched for them in the papers. Its only significant because Cornwell has decided that most of the Ripper letters are "real". Her evidence? A handwriting expert that determined that most of the letters were written by the same person imitating different hands. Bizarrely in the book she actually points out at some length that handwriting isn't a science but still uses this determination as authorative. She doesn't appear to worry about or discuss any letters that she can't directly examine except for the From Hell letter (which is the most likely to be "legitimate" due to the included kidney).
    It does appear there were more Ripper killings that commonly acknowledged though I don't agree with all of the killings she places under that umbrella (usually due to the killings closeness to where Sickert might have been) and it does seem likely that some of the Ripper letters might have been written by other killers who were either copycats or triggered into fulfilling murderous desires after reading the detailed newspaper accounts. But her conclusions that all of them are legitimate is a stretch.
    There's also a strange undercurrent of anti-intellectualism. She lists off the many languages Sickert knew as if they were evidence. She claims very basic rhymes in Ripper letters are "too clever for an illiterate." Whenever she hits an investigative dead end she treats it like a purposeful act of the Ripper - as if he predicted her investigation and the kind of technology we'd have today.
    Cornwell appears to dislike Sickert intensely. I'm sure she would crisply say that she dislikes Sickert because she dislikes murderers. She handwaves away all arguments against her beliefs as people defending Sickert for their own reasons. I've heard some cynical views of why she's so intense on this issue (she did buy a lot of Sickert art and memorabilia before publishing her first book) - I tend to think she's a true believer.
    I'm not going to say Sickert was an angel - if her account is to be believed (and I'm not sure it is) it sounds like Sickert was a deeply unpleasant man who had his share of secrets. I suppose this book doesn't DISPROVE anything and Sickert has been linked to the Ripper murders before. But men have been cold to their wives, told wild third hand tales about famous murderers, and had strange habits without being murderers throughout human history. Even her most compelling evidence requires accepting a lot of assumptions.
    Anyway this is an entertaining book - even a thought provoking one. If you enjoy conspiracy theories as thought experiments this might be up your alley.
  • BET
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good read in you're into Ripper conspericy theories and lesser or unknown suspects at that time
    Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2017
    Well written, but a stretch that Sickert was the Ripper. Evidence such as his mentor believing he was in London during one of the Ripper murders smacks of trying to force unconfirmed suppositions to conform to the Ripper murders, and this is just one example. Another being paintings that supposedly depicted Ripper killings, and his attending shows at the dance hall that would have him walking the streets where some of the murders took place (not mentioning that other people were on the streets at the very same time (witnesses to the actual killings, others attending the shows, etc.). The biggest problem I have though is that the monstrous fiend that committed the the butchery of the Mary Jeanette Kelly murder, was at this point totally out of control and probably would have escalated even further in future murders causing him to be eventually caught. The author tries to suggest that murders that happen after Mary Kelly's (which most seem to believe was the Ripper's last) and were more similar to earlier Ripper murders (indicating some deescalation on his part) could also have been done by Sickert, yet no strong evidence is really provided. I believe he wouldn't have stopped and would have most likely escalated where as Sickert seemed at this point not to be very strong on the authorities radar. This author's theory, seems very similar to the unbelievable American Ripper documentary series now On the History channel, which in my opinion, is also making vague suppositions to fit in as stated facts (i.e. H. H. Holmes may have been in London during the Ripper murder time frame because no documentation could be found during that time placing him in Chicago. They don't mention that this could apply to millions of others that also couldn't be proved not to be in London during the same time period). In closing this review, if you like conspiracy theories, then this book may be of interest.

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