London, 1888, and one-man's brutal campaign of violence has taken the lives of unsuspecting victims, cut the city to the core and carved his name into history. Well, not his name, exactly. Whomever this man was, remains a mystery but there are few people who haven't heard of his nickname: Jack the Ripper.
The same is true for those said to have died at his hands. If Polly Nicholls, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly had not fallen to his knife, their names would have been lost to history. Instead, they themselves are as much a part of the folklore as their killer. Then there are those who investigated the crimes: the ordinary men, doing their jobs as best they could, who will always be associated with the failed attempts to catch this monster.
But if those crimes had happened today, how would they be investigated and how would the approach differ? There is no doubt, how detectives work has changed dramatically over those 130 years. Although, in many senses, things are very much the same. Solving murders relies on an understanding of people, be that the victims, the witnesses and, most importantly, the killers themselves.
In Murder Investigation Team: Jack the Ripper, while journeying through these infamous murders, through meticulous contemporary research, witness statements and reporting, ex-detective Steven Keogh will revisit the crimes that were committed, why these lives were taken, and attempt to discover just who was Jack the Ripper? Applying modern-day investigative approaches to the 19th century investigation, and with ground-breaking insight from one of the UK's leading criminal profilers, Pippa Gregory, join Steven on a gruesome and incredible journey of discovery into one of the most infamous crimes in British history. Steven was a police officer with London's Metropolitan Police for 30 years, with over half of that time spent as a Scotland Yard detective. Now retired from the force, his first book, Murder Investigation Team allows the reader to step inside the mind of an investigator in a never-before-seen look into what it takes to catch killers and bring them to justice. His second book, Murder Investigation Team: Jack the Ripper, is a fresh, new assessment of the unsolved Whitechapel murders, from a modern-day police expert. Steven provides consultancy to film, TV, and documentary makers, and runs a YouTube channel, Murder Academy, providing walk-through videos on a wide range of criminal topics. He regularly appears on true crime and criminal justice podcasts, and provides freelance consultancy to film, TV, documentary makers and news outlets, helping to make our favourite police procedurals as close to the real thing as possible. A fresh, new assessment of the unsolved Whitechapel murders, from a modern day police expert Steve worked for the Met for 30 years, and is now retired and living in London. Throughout this highly successful career, he worked in Whitechapel and developed a fascination with the unsolved Whitechapel murders, so this book looks at the century-old case through the experienced eyes of a modern-day criminal investigator. Clearly will appeal to fans of historical true crime - e.g. Suspicions of Mr Whicher - but this has a much broader appeal. Like his first book, this is for a mass-market true crime audience. We're publishing alongside the anniversary of the original murders so there should be decent opportunity to work with the various Jack the Ripper attractions and museums in the capital.
