Sherlock Holmes and the Unmasking of the Whitechapel Horror

By: Frank Emerson

Narrated by: Adam Blanford

Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Perhaps the most well known of all the world's serial killers, Jack the Ripper continues to befuddle would-be investigators and inhabit the nightmares of children and adults everywhere. However, although people are well aware of this monster, even now a century and a half after the killings began, conflicting opinions still abound as to Jack's true identity.

In this book, Frank Emerson has uncovered a previously lost narrative by Dr. John H. Watson that illustrates how he and Sherlock Holmes, working in tandem with Detective Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard, conducted an intense 15 year investigation and pursuit that culminated with the unmasking, arrest, trial, and ultimate execution of the real Jack the Ripper.

©2023 Frank Emerson (P)2023 MX Publishing

Not what I expected

Many authors have had Sherlock Holmes get involved in the Whitechapel Murders, aka the "Jack the Ripper" case. Some have been truly outstanding. Some have been far less so. Unfortunately, this falls into the second group.

Let me begin by saying that this is not really a Holmes mystery in the classical sense. There is very little actual investigation carried out by him. Indeed, the story opens by telling us who the Ripper was. Then we flash back to the beginning, where Scotland Yard already had him on their suspects list, before even bringing in Holmes. Most of the book is about watching the suspect over the years. But that is all they do. There is no attempt to try to find evidence that would connect him to the murders.

Then, they continue to just watch, as he murders several of his wives. Time passes, and Watson reminds us of this, but it is fifteen years from the beginning until they arrest him. By the time they do, it is far too long to successfully prosecute him as the Ripper, so they settle for trying him for murdering his last three wives.

It is also a tale of Holmes, Watson, and quondam Detective Chief Inspector and subsequent Pinkerton man, Frederick Abberline. In my opinion, Abberline gets far too much "screen time" relative to Holmes. This story might well have been better if Holmes and Watson had been completely removed, and it was simply a story of a DCI who won't let a particular cold case go.

The reader did a solid job, generally keeping all the characters voices distinct. He did sometimes misread or mispronounce word, which is one of my personal bugbears. But generally, I enjoyed his read. I just wish he'd been given better materiel to read.

So in summary, I just can't recommend this as a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Your mileage may vary.

Patience and persistence catches the criminal

Good Sherlock Holmes story about the decades long pursuit of Jack the Ripper. Homes and Watson help the police investigate and track a suspect from
Whitechapel to NYC back to London and other UK cities. Unfortunately the bodies accumulate, but Holmes never gives up. The narration is very good and brings the story to life. I received a free audiobook code for my honest review.