In 1893, two years after the last Ripper murder, Detective Inspector William Race met with two journalists working for The Sun and told them that he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper. Two years earlier, Race had arrested 25-year-old Thomas Hayne Cutbush for attacking two young girls with a knife. Having worked on the Ripper case, Race noted a number of startling facts: Cutbush matched eyewitness descriptions of the Ripper; took long night-time walks, returning at dawn with mud and blood on his clothing, and once tried to cut his mother's throat. Race's superiors ignored Race's suspicions, so he went to The Sun. Two journalists set about investigating Cutbush, gathering startling new evidence and compelling eyewitness testimony. When they published their results they caused a sensation, leading to the now infamous and deeply flawed Macnaghten Report. In The Man Who Would Be Jack, the author re-examines Inspector Race's and the journalists' findings and uncovers startling new evidence to support the idea that Cutbush was indeed Jack the Ripper.
This is a fresh, exciting detective and whodunnit story that whips along at a cracking piece, culminating at the moment where the two journalists finally gain access to Broadmoor and stand face-to-face with The Man Who Would Be Jack.