The Big Book of Jack the Ripper

Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler's latest anthology takes its inspiration from the historical enigma whose name has become synonymous with fear: Jack the Ripper. Of the real-life serial killers whose gruesome acts have been splashed across headlines, none has reached the mythical status of Jack the Ripper. In the Ripper's wake, terror swept through the streets of London's East End in the fall of 1888. As quickly as his nightmarish reign came, Saucy Jack vanished without a trace-leaving future generations to speculate upon his identity and whereabouts. He was diabolical in a way never seen before-a killer who taunted the police, came up with his own legendary monikers, and, ultimately, got away with his heinous crimes. More than a century later, the man "from hell" continues to live on in the imaginations of readers everywhere-and in some of the most spec­tacularly unnerving stories, both fiction and nonfiction, ever written. The Big Book of Jack the Ripper immerses you in the utterly chilling world of Red Jack's London, where his unprecedented evil still lurks. Including: · Legendary stories by Marie Belloc Lowndes, Robert Bloch, and Ellery Queen · Captivating essays from George Bernard Shaw, Stephen Hunter, and Peter Underwood · Riveting new stories by contemporary masters Jeffrey Deaver, Loren D. Estleman, Lyndsay Faye, and many more · Astonishing theories from the world's foremost Ripperologists From the Ripper Vault: · Demonic letters from Jack himself · Gruesome postmortem exams documenting all the bits and pieces of the cases · Harrowing witness statements taken on those hellish nights · Breaking newspaper accounts of the East End hysteria

OTTO PENZLER is the editor of fourteen Vintage Crime/Black Lizard anthologies, including The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories, The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries, and, most recently, The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories. He lives in New York City, where he is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop.

Introduction by Otto Penzler THE TRUE STORY Victims in the Night David Abrahamsen The Jack the Ripper Murders Anonymous Key Texts Witness Statements Autopsy Reports The “Ripper Letters” Maxim Jakubowski and Nathan Braund, eds. London’s Ghastly Mystery Anonymous The East End Murders: Detailed Lessons Anonymous Blood Money to Whitechapel George Bernard Shaw Who Was Jack the Ripper? Peter Underwood   Mystery Solved! Anonymous “Frenchy”—Ameer Ben Ali Edwin M. Borchard Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick Stephen Hunter Copy Murders and Others Robin Odell MYSTERY, CRIME, SUSPENSE—STORIES In the Fourth Ward Theodora Benson Jack Anne Perry Spring-Fingered Jack Susan Casper The Uncertain Heiress Isak Dinesen Knucklebones Tim Sullivan A Kind of Madness Anthony Boucher The Sparrow and the Lark Lyndsay Faye The Decorator Boris Akunin Guardian Angel Gwendolyn Frame   In the Slaughteryard Anonymous The Lodger (short story) Marie Belloc Lowndes The Lodger (novel) Marie Belloc Lowndes The Sins of the Fathers Scott Baker Don’t Fear the Ripper Holly West The Mysterious Card Unveiled Cleveland Moffett Jack Be Quick Barbara Paul A Matter of Blood Jeffery Deaver A Study in Terror Ellery Queen   RED JACK—AN INSPIRATION G.I. Jack Loren D. Estleman The Legacy R. L. Stevens Jack’s Little Friend Ramsey Campbell The Stripper H. H. Holmes The Ripper Experience Daniel Stashower The Treasure of Jack the Ripper Edward D. Hoch The Hands of Mr. Ottermole Thomas Burke SAUCY JACK—TIMELESS Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper Robert Bloch A Toy for Juliette Robert Bloch The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World Harlan Ellison Gentleman of the Shade Harry Turtledove The Adventure of the Grinder’s Whistle Howard Waldrop Sagittarius Ray Russell The Demon Spell Hume Nisbet My Shadow is the Fog Charles L. Grant By Flower and Dean Street Patrice Chaplin The Final Stone William F. Nolan   The Gatecrasher R. Chetwynd-Hayes A Punishment to Fit the Crimes Richard A. Gordon From Hell Again Gregory Frost An Awareness of Angels Karl Edward Wagner A Most Unusual Murder Robert Bloch Jack the Ripper in Hell Stephen Hunter