Monday, March 10, 2008
Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell
The Mystery Lovers will discuss Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper: Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell on Tuesday, March 12, at noon in the downstairs meeting room.
Who was Jack the Ripper? That's the question that crime lovers have been asking for over 100 years, and the answers have ranged from England's royal family to a poor Polish lunatic. Now Cornwell takes us to London's Whitechapel area of the 1800's and tries to prove that the notorious serial killer was Walter Richard Sickert, a student of Whistler's and a successful artist.
Cornwell spent a great deal of money trying to make her case. She considered Sickert's works "revelatory," and purchased several of his paintings, destroying one in the hope of finding evidence. The science she used - from mitochondrial DNA to watermark experts - is fascinating. While she isn't always able to prove her theory, Cornwell makes a strong case with circumstantial evidence.
Was Sickert guilty of the Ripper murders? We may never know for certain, but Cornwell's book is gripping with its lessons in science and history and Sickert's biography. Readers must decide for themselves if Sickert is guilty or not guilty.
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