I’ve been attempting to read Patricia Cornwell’s Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed for a few days now. I was truly excited to pick up this book and see what it was all about. Now, about halfway through, I’m trying to stop myself from throwing it away. It seems very hastily put together, and does a lot of finger pointing. Detectives should lay out cases before they point fingers. The book (so far) is almost a stream of consciousness case presentation. Walter Sickert was an artist. Walter Sickert liked to dress up. Is it not possible he dressed up and killed people? Is it not possible he wrote Ripper letters with different handwriting styles? I think his paintings can be plenty creepy, but it may be a stretch to call him the world’s most famous serial killer.

Anyway.

I’m off to the movies now.