Stalking Jack the Ripper Hardcover – Illustrated, September 20, 2016

Stalking Jack the Ripper the book is a fiction tale, semi using the case of Jack the Ripper, London’s most famous Serial killer.The two main characters in this book is one Audrey Rose Wadsworth,(btw Kerri, if your reading this, I love her Name.) and the other is Mr Thomas Cresswell. AudreyRose decides to do something, most would consider un-lady like of the time period and her status in society. That something turns out to be a medical examiner of sorts. She decides to study the science with her Uncle because she lost her Mum very young. So during her studies, she happens to met her Uncle intern Mr Thomas Cresswell. She learns through her Uncle and Thomas of the Jack the Ripper Murders After Audrey is invited to help in the case, all hell pretty much breaks lose. All of the clues point to people close to her. She is also slowly starting to like Thomas as more then a friend,which doesn’t help matters either. Why? because lets be real who wants to fall in love or semi love while investigating famous murder. As time goes on, Audrey Rose becomes closer to everyone possibly involved in the murder.I rated this book a 5 out of 5 stars, because it is written so well. The best way to describe the story is that it wants you to look at the murders as being a puzzle for a crime solving like a person in Forensic's would study a murder .I hope all of that makes sense but before I continue I also would like to point out that this book discusses in some detail Forensic science study of dead bodies. It is the process of a Doctor or Scientist receiving a dead body to study its organs as well as sometimes studying murders. But back in Victorian days it was Called being a Cadaver which was a way for doctors or scientist to get free bodies to study what cause a person death as well or use certain body parts . While this is discuss in the book, it is not extremely detailed to point of making someone feel sick. I am a sensitive person to these types of things and this detailed did not bother me. Now on to more details about the story itself. This story is not your standard Murder mystery in the sense that its all about the murder. This book is also about Audrey Rose becoming her own person. I also honestly couldn’t believe how funny this book was, mainly from Thomas’s point of view. Thomas tends to be the one who keeps Audrey Rose on her toes and really helps to get her to think about everything. He loves the fact that she is so well educated compare to most girls of her position and the age. He tends to use humorous flirty banter towards her whenever they are together. I can’t say enough about how much I love Thomas in this book. I also loved the cover on this book. This cover which is shown above of a woman holding a knife while wearing Steampunk victorian clothing is bloody beautiful, intriguing and inviting .I honestly can’t wait to start the next book in the series which is Hunting Prince Dracula, and it comes out in September 2017 for hardcover sell.

I'm not really big on mysteries to be honest (and yet I ended up reading two at the same time somehow), so I wasn't completely sure I would be interested in this. But, I love all things that take place in Victorian England, plus Jack the Ripper is grotesquely interesting to read about, so I thought I might enjoy this (plus I also got the ARC of Hunting Prince Dracula at BookCon so...kind of felt like I should at least give it a try).Turns out, I kind of loved it! The story follows Audrey Rose Wadsworth, one those "not like other girls" kind of heroines who prefers stitching up dead bodies after examining them to stitching embroidery into napkins, as she dives into the case of "Leather Apron", or as we know him today, Jack the Ripper. It's fast-paced, full of great characters and relationships, and of course, lots of mystery and intrigue.I thought the story itself was wonderfully written for the the most part. It moved at a decent pace, keeping the reader on edge despite knowing what was in store, and filling the plot with great characterization and relationship growth. There were mysteries abound, in both the case of Jack the Ripper and in characters themselves, keeping everything fresh and interesting as new questions came into light.It wasn't perfect, unfortunately, as a lot of creative liberties were taken by the author (which she admitted to in an Author's Note at the end of the book) and while I'm sure most people are fine glossing over them, I read another book that dealt with the Jack the Ripper murders ( The Name of the Star , by Maureen Johnson), and though that does not make me an expert on the subject matter at all, there were enough inconsistencies that I noticed that had me confused at times. I brushed it off, but I still felt mildly annoyed.One such liberty was the inclusion of the Barnum & Bailey circus act that Audrey Rose goes to see with her brother, Nathaniel. Not only did it not occur in the year this book takes place (1888, when the circus came in 1889), but to me it felt a little unnecessary to the plot. All it served was a means to make Nathaniel feel like he was helping his sister be a little happy again, only for it to be interrupted by the Jack the Ripper case again, cutting the happy night short and honestly just making the entire scene feel like it could have been cut entirely.On another note, there was a specific plot point that felt like it was completely forgotten about after a specific incident occurred related to it. While I can infer some answers about that particular mystery (I'm talking about Thornley and Alistair) based on the revelations at the end, it was never specifically brought back up and so things are left a little muddled with the answers being more along the line of "could have been" than definitively.It was a little predictable - I kind of guessed who Jack was about halfway through - but the motive felt a little strange and out there for the character. I figured out why he was choosing his particularly victims correctly, but not the complete reason as to why he was killing and maiming their bodies as he did. In fact, when the revelation came, his actions and demeanor compared to how he had acted prior felt very out of character. I know this can be attributed to Audrey Rose's perspective of the situation, and to the idea that people aren't as they seem, but there are usually more behaviors shown that would make this kind of revelation make sense, I think.As for the characters, I really did enjoy Audrey Rose and her constant determination to assist in the case despite what her father and society wanted from her, and her compassion for the victims of Jack the Ripper. Her relationships with those surrounding her really defined the book as a whole, as they grew and changed over the course of the novel, without them ever really changing her own desires for her goals in life. My only issue is with Maniscalco's writing of Audrey Rose's feminist views: I completely agreed with her on everything, but they were just a little too straightforward - a little too much "tell" when it could have been more "show".Thomas Cresswell came off being a little bit too much Sherlock Holmes-ian at first, with his deducing and arrogance, but he slowly grew on me and showed much deeper levels to his character throughout the novel. I loved his relationship growth with Audrey Rose, and that he became a little softer as the book wore on. The other characters had just as much depth and growth as well throughout the book, and were all interesting and intriguing to read about and grow to understand.I really enjoyed reading this book, and I especially enjoyed reading about Audrey Rose and Thomas. The plot moved decently and kept me captivated the entire time, while the characters really brought the story to life. Despite a few issues with historical accuracy and some plot holes that needed filling, I still really enjoyed this book and can't wait to dive into Hunting Prince Dracula!

If you like murder mysteries, forensic science and the macabre, this is for you. Some scenes describe forensic studies, and are graphic in gore as well as the victims of murder so be advised before you read as this book is listed as YA