Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed

Patricia Cornwell
Putnam Pub Group November, 2002
ISBN: 0399149325

Review
by Norah Rudin, Ph.D.

Although I received Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed, with high expectations given the literary standing of its author, I was immediately skeptical of such a definitive title. Given the age and complexity of the case, it is almost inconceivable that clear and convincing evidence should suddenly appear when the mystery has endured this long. My skepticism proved to be well-founded. The book begins with the assumption that Walter Sickert is Jack the Ripper. From whence this assumption comes, we have no clue. Certainly, he is one of a cast of several who have been long been considered for this role. But we are left wondering why the author chose Sickert as a focus.

There is no question that the subject material is meticulously and comprehensively researched. That the project was a personal quest for Ms. Cornwell is clear, not only from her introduction, but from the dedication and thoroughness evident throughout. Nevertheless, it is ironic that an individual so mired in the scientific examination of physical evidence should so easily discard its worth due to its absence. It is not for nothing that physical evidence has been termed the "silent witness". While the descriptions of Sickert’s art are certainly suggestive, the handwriting analysis intriguing, and he may well have been a very disturbed man, this is hardly the kind of evidence on which to close a case. The dearth of physical evidence is not for lack of trying. Cornwell clearly invested an enormous quantity of resources in trying to connect Sickert and the Ripper using current DNA techniques. The little bit of mitochondrial DNA evidence that was recovered is, again, suggestive, but not conclusive.

Ripperologists will certainly find this book to be one of the best sources of material. If nothing else, Cornwell has uncovered and preserved an great number of valuable historical documents. However, if the material in the book is the best evidence that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper, I, for one, would have to hold out for reasonable doubt.