Summary Of A Killer By Patricia Cornwell

Portrait of a killer, By Patricia Cornwell, tells the story of a serial killer known as none other than Jack the Ripper. The book mainly describes how the author herself believes she has discovered the identity of the murderer. Patricia Cornwell, the author, is a crime writer who is fascinated by medicine, forensic science, and crime. She researches crimes and makes discoveries, then writes about her findings. Portrait of A Killer is no exception to this matter, and one of the discoveries she believes she has made is the actual identity of the killer. Jack the Ripper was a viscous murderer whose identity is still a controversy. Although in 2002, Patricia became convinced that through modern forensics and research, she has discovered the true …show more content…
The reason this has significant meaning is because Jack the Ripper is credited for killing, then mutilating five prostitutes. It is written that the mutilation of their bodies took place after they were killed, and in unusual ways. This is also significant due to the fact that this suggests that the murderer had a vast understanding of the human body and anatomy. However, it is possible and fair to say that due to Jack the Ripper’s identity never being found out for certain, he killed more than only these five prostitutes, and did so in a longer time period than just the year 1888. The potential murders committed by Jack the Ripper range from just the five prostitutes, to eleven people murdered in the four-year period of time being from 1888-1892. When one looks at everything collected in this case, it is easy for most to say the criminal is a maniac. Patricia also forms this opinion herself, and mentions so in the book. She finds common factors of maniacs and compares them to her suspect. The most common factor that she found was that maniacs have little to no …show more content…
So the question remains, who is this man accused of so much? According to Patricia, the guilty convict is the artist known as Walter Richard Sickert. When Walter is noted as an artist, this means more than just paintings. Walter was known to be notoriously skilled in the art of disguise, and also drew doodles and comics. This is also more evidence that could be used positively towards Patricia’s claims. Credit of that goes to the fact that there were notes and comics physically sent to the police from Jack the Ripper himself. In doing this he constantly taunted the police, including the line “catch me if you can” at the end of most of his notes. On top of this, he even told the police where he would be on a given night. He did this all in pure confidence that he would not be caught. Although today Jack the Ripper’s identity is still a controversy, indicating that his confidence was well placed. All in all, there have been many theories, ideas, and conspiracies about Jack the Ripper and who he was. Which also means that there undoubtedly more to come. However, I believe that the evidence, points proven, and overall argument provided by Patricia’s book is more than enough to convict Walter Richard Sickert. This