Jack the Ripper: 100-Year Investigation - Facts & Fiction for Crime Enthusiasts

I am an avid true crime reader that has read many books on serial killers yet I had not, until this point, read anything on Jack the Ripper. So, this book, which I just found at the local bookstore, was my introduction to the famed slasher.This book should be dubbed the Jack the Ripper Primer because it is so brief. At 141 pages very few pages detail the crimes whereas 50 pages are spent on the various potential suspects. The author, Terrence Sharkey, shows his knowledge of those suspected of the crime by going into details about their lives and movements in late 1888, but it was dry reading for me. The confluence of names, associations and other information became somniferous.Terrence does a decent job setting the scene by giving vivid descriptions of late 19th century East End (just outside of London) which gives the reader an idea of how a killer could successfully dismember five women and get away. The brief descriptions of the murder scenes are certainly gory and gave details I was never aware of.I'm sure this book is not the authority on the topic but it was a good starter for anyone seeking to be a Ripperologist.