Book Review
Title: Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper #1)
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: YA/Historical/Romance
Rating: *****
Review: So, I read this book back in 2018 and I have also read Hunting Prince Dracula, but I haven’t finished the series and now is the perfect time with the Reading Rush happening right now. I decided to listen to the audiobook as well as reading along as I listen to both books previously and absolutely loved them. We are introduced to our protagonist Audrey Rose Wadsworth; whose uncle Jonathan is a well-known medical examiner and he has been secretly training Audrey Rose as his apprentice and she is to attend his forensic medicines class the following day when they are interrupted by a devilish stranger who will become quite important to this story later on. The opening chapter of Stalking Jack the Ripper really set the tone for the novel as it is dark and gritty, and it fills me with nostalgia to be following Audrey Rose again. In the class she meets Thomas Cresswell who she finds both intriguing and incredibly annoying, but he is also apprenticing with her uncle which means she is going to have to put up with him for a lot longer. We also learn her uncle’s true position in society as he is the medical examiner being consulted on the Ripper cases as he discusses with the class the death of Mary Ann Nichols and Thomas proves himself to be as intelligent and insightful as Audrey is.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the first evening spend in the mortuary was strangely beautiful and haunting as Miss Nichols briefly worked for Audrey Rose’s family while she was ill with scarlet fever if I remember correctly. The banter and tension between Audrey Rose and Thomas screams romance, but I know he is going to have to work very hard to get this girl’s attention. Both recount their theories on the murder, but it is Thomas who says that this murder won’t stop killing and Audrey Rose makes the connection to the murder having some medical training. We also get some background on Audrey Rose’s life as we learn her mother was lost to illness and her father has never recovered from that becoming extremely protective of her and is prone to delusions but her brother Nathaniel is very different. He is humorous and delightful but knowing the twist that comes at the end of this book I am picking up on the hints much earlier this time around and it is wonderful. That night Audrey Rose decides to sneak out to gather clues about the murder only to be caught by Thomas and her brother which is just as well as hours later Annie Chapman is murdered. While her uncle is away she and Thomas have an interesting conversation where they discover that Mary Ann Nichols wasn’t the first victims but the first victim went unnoticed because her death bears no resemblance to the Whitechapel Murders but it does fit their theory that the killer is a religious zealot of some sort. Audrey Rose is also getting more time to investigate as her father is away recovering from an opium addiction meaning her aunt is coming to stay and Audrey Rose knows how to get around her much better than she does her father. As I mentioned previously, I am picking up on the hints to the murderer’s real identity much sooner and in some way, it is obvious put only if you have read the book before.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Audrey Rose begins searching her father’s records for any information of Mary Ann Nichols or Emma Elizabeth Smith. While Miss Nichols did work in their home, her father had since destroyed the records but an article about Emma Elizabeth Smith’s death in the same draw gave Audrey Rose enough of a reason to seek out a former valet for answers. Mr. Thornley used to work for their family until he was too old to perform his duties and Audrey Rose knows that if she wants information from a time when her mother was alive, then he would have it. She ends up travelling with Thomas but when they arrive in Reading, Mr. Thornley is on death’s door and it appears they have arrived just in time. It takes some convincing, but she manages to get him talking and he mentions horrors within the wall and that someone called Alistair knows about it. The pair can’t get more information out of the old man as he passes away before their eyes and Audrey Rose is more confused than ever but she does know that Emma Elizabeth Smith was a good friend of her parents and was engaged to her uncle at one point, meaning they were all very close but there seems to be no reason for her father to be keeping track of his brother’s former fiancé or have any reason to the horrific manner in which she died. We also see Audrey Rose developing some feelings for Thomas although she completely denies them or locks them away the second, they pair which makes the romance between this pair even more delightful.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Audrey Rose learns that Alistair was their father’s former coachman and she heads to the docks to speak to him and is just happened upon by Thomas. By the time they reach the dock and find his location, he has vanished leaving a small bit of blood behind, using Thomas’ borrowed dog, Toby, they find him but not before someone has slit his throat. This visibly shakes Audrey Rose and makes her life even more difficult as her aunt isn’t willing to let her anywhere near uncle while she is staying and this is made worse when Nathaniel let it slip that their father has been entertaining potential suitors for Audrey Rose despite the fact she has a whole year before she come out into society. She does entertain hope that the young man mentioned is Thomas but she also knows how unlikely that is and she suddenly has a whole host of problems that have nothing to do with the Whitechapel Murders but it is clear that someone doesn’t want Audrey Rose finding the answers she is desperately seeking. However, things get even worse when her uncle is arrested as he is suspected as being the murderer and has even been identified by a suspect and if he has been sent to the asylum then things look dreadful. Audrey Rose and Thomas waste no time in heading straight there we they meet Superintendent William Blackburn who does his best to explain the arrest to Audrey Rose. Her uncle remains in the asylum commonly known as Bedlam for the next two weeks and in that time Thomas and Audrey Rose haven’t been able to prove his innocence but she hasn’t been able to do much detective work thanks to her aunt but a trip to the circus where Thomas is also going to be in attendance might change this.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, at the circus which happens to be run by P. T. Barnum, Superintendent Blackburn turns up with a message for the Wadsworth siblings. It seems the people in charge are looking to pin the murders on their uncle and he is scheduled to hang in less than a week and suddenly everything becomes completely overwhelming for Audrey Rose. However, Blackburn wants Audrey Rose’s help in proving her uncle’s innocence and catching the real killer, but she is reluctant, so he decides to take her on a trip to Bethlem “Bedlam” asylum to visit her uncle. Her uncle is begin drugged and is in a horrid state and Audrey Rose knows she needs to solve this murder quickly or he will hang for a crime she is sure he hasn’t committed. They are in luck however, as a letter is sent to the newspaper from a person calling themselves Jack the Ripper claiming that he is going to start his work all over again which might be the key to freeing her uncle. Thomas implies that Audrey Rose wrote the letter herself as the perfume she was wearing a few nights before is all over the letter which is another major clue to who the real killer is but it drives a huge wedge between Thomas and Audrey Rose and the horrors that unfold the next night don’t help matters much.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Audrey Rose is called to the scene of a double murder by the Ripper in her uncle’s place and Blackburn tells her he should be released that night but that’s where everything good ends as her father and brother arrive and drag Audrey Rose away. Her father is furious and tells her she is to comply with his rules or he will turn her out of his house meaning everything Audrey Rose has worked for and worked towards has gone up in smoke and her brother is to blame. However, Nathaniel spins a tale of his uncle performing surgery on Thomas’ mother before she died and both became even more obsessed with performing a successful organ transplant as there is evidence that could point to Thomas being the Ripper and Audrey Rose doesn’t have the faintest clue on how she is going to work through this new mess given her own emotions that she had invested in Thomas as even she comes to realise that she deeply cares for him. Audrey Rose doesn’t let this stop her and she finds a determination within herself, she stands up to her father saying she’d rather live on the streets than in a cage and joins her uncle and Thomas at his home where more secrets are revealed. Both men maintain their innocence but we do learn that Emma Elizabeth Smith fell into prostitute after trying to force Jonathan to choose between her and his work and when Audrey Rose brings up the theory she could have been the Ripper’s first victim, they immediately get back to work but by now to someone who knows the story the true killer’s identity is obvious. As time moves on another letter is sent to the police and it solidifies the idea in Audrey Rose’s mind that her father is the killer. One night she and Thomas decide to try and stalk the Ripper in the East End only to be attacked by a man whose lover had been sold to Thomas for experimentation without permission and in that moment, he and Audrey Rose finally admit how they feel about each other and share their first kiss. However, this beautiful moment is shattered when Audrey Rose recognises her father’s carriage gliding down the darkened streets of the East End, where it has no business being at that hour.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, it is truly the beginning of the end as the final murder takes place and for anyone even vaguely familiar with the Ripper murders, you will know she was brutalized beyond recognition as anything remotely human and Audrey Rose that it is now time to go and confront her father and end the Ripper’s reign of terror once and for all. However, Thomas can’t go with her on this occasion and she enters her father’s home alone, but it seems both he and Nathaniel have already disappeared into the night. Completely by accident she comes across a secret passageway in her father’s study and at the bottom of the staircase she finds the lair of the Ripper. I don’t want to go into too much detail as it will definitely spoil first time readers but people that have read this book more than once know what Audrey Rose finds down there is horrific and not what she was expecting. However, in the aftermath she does get one thing she was hoping for, to be validated in her choice of career even though she is a woman as she learns she and Thomas will be attending forensic medical school in Romania thanks in part to her uncle. Stalking Jack the Ripper was an emotional rollercoaster the first time around and this time didn’t hit any less hard and I can’t wait to reread Hunting Prince Dracula and finish the series as soon as I can. Highly recommended and a solid 5 star for me.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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