Legacy of the Ripper

Jack Thomas Reid, nephew of Robert Cavendish who first appeared in A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper languishes in the secure Ravenswood Psychiatric Hospital, sentenced to confinement 'at Her Majesty's Pleasure' for a series of apparent 'Jack the Ripper' copycat killings in the picturesque English coastal resort of Brighton. Jack's defence at his trial, that he is a descendant of Jack the Ripper and that the crimes were conducted by an unknown 'mystery man' and that Jack was drugged and made to appear as the killer was regarded as so preposterous and unbelievable that his sentence was never in doubt. When one of the policemen who conducted the original investigation into the murders begins to doubt the truth of the case against Reid, Sergeant Carl Wright and Ripperologist Alice Nickels begin an investigation into his story. What they find is told through the voice of Doctor Ruth Truman, Jack's psychiatrist at Ravenswood, and through a series of events that take place as far afield as the beautiful island of Malta and in Warsaw, Poland. Slowly but surely and with the help of Wright's boss Inspector Mike Holland, the link between the events that shocked and terrorised Whitechapel over a century ago, and their link with the case of Jack Thomas Reid and the 'Legacy of Jack the Ripper' is revealed.

A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper was the winner of The Preditors & Editors 'Best Thriller Novel of 2008 Award' and is available from Double Dragon Publishing, Amazon and all good retailers.