Randy Williams - Sherlock Holmes And The Autumn Of Terror

The evil and cruel party that came to be known as Jack the Ripper, Englands first serial killer, terrorized the streets of Whitechapel in Londons East-end during the fall of 1888, now referred to as The Autumn of Terror . The five canonical murders (those generally agreed upon by the majority of Ripper experts, known as Ripperologists as being committed by the infamous killer) took place during the exact period when legendary literary sleuth Sherlock Holmes would have been in his heyday as a thirty-five-year-old private consulting detective in London. In the series of short stories and novelettes penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle during those years, Holmes was often called in to assist the (portrayed as mostly incompetent) London Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard in their more problematic investigations. Which begs the question; why did Holmes never take on Londons - and indeed the worlds - most infamous unsolved mystery, which would have taken place right under his very nose in 1880s London? My answer; he did. And not only did he investigate it at the request of The Crown, but in my story, he also solved the case. However, like many of the fictional detectives most puzzling and intriguing cases, the results of this investigation led Holmes to make connections to persons and events whose revelation could result in explosive situations which might have had serious ramifications on British politics and society. And so, in the same way a number of supposedly unreleased case outcomes mentioned through Watsons narration in stories like The Problem of Thor Bridge, The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger and The Adventure of the Creeping Man , the results of the Ripper case have remained unpublished - entombed in a tin box - until such time that all concerned parties are long-since dead, or the implications of the investigations outcome could no longer be damaging or threatening to national security. Thus, 125 years after the fact, the Rippers identity could finally be revealed in the year 2017.

My story, Sherlock Holmes and the Autumn of Terror , is a fictionalized version of my own actual theory on the true identity of Jack the Ripper, which has never before been put forth, and is supported by the huge amount of irrefutable evidence I have amassed as you will see. It is based on years of investigation, numerous trips to the actual crime scenes in London, as well as the application of Holmes methods in my own experience as a Private Detective, my avid readership of all the Holmes stories and my love for foreign languages, solving puzzles and word games. I have used all of this, along with expert advice, to create what I believe to be a possible, plausible resolution to one of the worlds greatest unresolved mysteries. Many of the people, incidents and evidence presented in this tale actually existed, and are intermingled with characters, colloquial dialect and events taken from Doyles writings in order to create and maintain an air of authenticity. But reader beware - lest you condemn me for not having done my research in my contemporary usage of slang such as nark of the police, crib (in reference to someones home or apartment), smash-and-grab, Whats up and other modern-sounding words and phrases in the 1800s, let me assure you that all of these - and many more - were borrowed directly from the pages of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles own works. There may be two exceptions. Lets see if you can tell which ones they are.

Also included in this novel is a short story-within-a-story called The Bogus Laundry Affair that was written from Holmes perspective, in the style of The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier . The reader may choose to skip directly over it or read it entirely separately from the rest of the book, as doing so will have no bearing on the outcome of the rest of the bigger story - it contains no spoilers. The only thing it has in common with Doyles original concept as introduced in The Adventure of the Cardboard Box is the name of the story,the mention of on e DI Aldridge , and a generous sprinkling of Holmes- and Watson-isms as borrowed from a number of my favorite Sherlock Holmes tales as well as other writings of horror, mystery and imagination by Doyle.

It is with great honor that I am able to say that this book was written with the technical advice and inspiration of three men that I have held in the highest esteem for most of my adult life, and that I had the good fortune to have been able to meet through a wonderful series of events that began in February of 2015, when I was invited to a dinner at which Dr. Michael Baden, world-renowned Forensic Pathologist was present. He was a guest of a very close friend, Sam Sanguedolce, who happened to be First Assistant District Attorney of Luzerne County, near my home in rural Northeast Pennsylvania. Dr. Baden was in town to testify in the murder case of Hugo Selensky, a local man that, with an accomplice, had killed a couple in a very cruel manner, and had buried their corpses on his property. Dr. Baden had been originally called in on the case at its inception in 2002, and was in town to testify for the prosecution about the cause and manner of death, as well as other details about their autopsies, and what was found in those examinations. Through sheer luck, I found myself alone with Dr. Baden for the better part of two hours, as he had been barred from the courtroom during the testimony of another witness. During that time, we established a friendship that continues to this day, and which led to my meeting Dr. Henry C. Lee, and in turn, Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, both of whom are known for their expertise throughout the world, and were great contributors to this book regarding the medical details of the murders, as well as crime-scene analysis in my fictional recreations of the crimes based on the actual reports of police and medical examiners from London during the period of the Ripper killings. Dr. Wecht helped me to recreate the murders in a manner consistent with the actual findings of the real medical examiners that worked on the case. Dr. Lee helped me greatly with the development of the Leu character, and was particularly enlightening in giving me an understanding of the nature of bullet trajectory and ricochet properties that in turn would help me explain Dr. Watsons wandering war injury that certain Holmes experts love to point out as an error in Doyles writings. I hope to have resolved this issue once and for all, with the help of the worlds leading expert on the subject as a small tribute to the creator of the legends that are Holmes and Watson. I also hope to have settled a similarly pesky revolver issue.

The first times I received phone calls from each of the three doctors will forever remain etched into my memory. My heartfelt thanks go out to these three men, as well as Samuel Sanguedolce, without whom Id have never had the opportunity to meet the Doctors. My thanks also go out to Detective Michael Dessoye - Chief of Detectives for the Office of the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania District Attorney, who also worked with Sam and Dr. Baden on the Selensky case, which was the model for some of the crimes I have dramatized here. I also wish to thank my long-time dear friend Mr. Chris Short of Derby, England, whose London research on the International Mens Educational Club was crucial to the development and direction of my actual theory of the true Ripper crimes.