This is an auction for PORTRAIT OF A KILLER - JACK THE RIPPER: CASE CLOSED by Patricia Cornwell.

"According to Cornwell, Jack the Ripper was artist Walter Sickert (1860-1942). The evidence Cornwell accumulates toward that conclusion in this brilliant, personal, gripping book is very strong, and will persuade many. In May 2001, Cornwell took a tour of Scotland Yard that interested her in the Ripper case, and in Sickert as a suspect. A look at Sickert's 'violent' paintings sealed her interest, and she became determined to apply modern investigatory and forensic techniques to the crimes that horrified London more than 100 years ago. The book's narrative is complex, as Cornwell re-creates life in Victorian times, particularly in the late 1880s, and especially the cruel existence of the London poor; offers expertly observed scenarios of how, based on the evidence, the killings occurred and the subsequent investigations were conducted; and gives a psycho-biography of Sickert. The book is filled with newsworthy revelations, including the successful use of DNA analysis to establish a link between an envelope mailed by the Ripper and two envelopes used by Sickert. There is also much other circumstantial evidence. Compassionate, intense, superbly argued, fluidly written and impossible to put down, this is the finest and most important true-crime book of the 21st century."

• Publishers Weekly (US)

Hardback 2002.

387 pages + 48 pages of illustrations.

Near new condition.

The cost of shipping is $4.95 (ordinary post) or $6.95 (tracked mail). If you are on rural delivery and want tracked mail, the shipping cost will be $9.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Wellington following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.