Jack the Ripper, Saucy Jack -names synonymous with murder and mystery and terrible crimes unsolved…
The Ripper Legacies are a trilogy of books consisting of The Reaper’s Breath, The Reaper’s Touch and The Reaper’s Kiss.
In The Reaper’s Breath the scene is set, we are transported to the filth and grime of Victorian London, a semi-lawless place of dockyards, crumbling tenement slums, blind alleys and snickleways. Within this world society is split between those of obscene and visible wealth and those held captive in crippling poverty. Into this world is the mysterious Jack the Ripper, a murderer of women forced to sell their bodies to survive. What sets these murders apart is the Ripper’s modus operandi; each victim is subjected to extreme butchery – Jack sees himself as an artist with the blade.
From London we are taken to Cloveney Hall – a country estate home of the Harkness family. Within these walls resides the young William Harkness. William has his destiny plotted for him, heir to his father Simeon’s, fortune, set to wed Emily his childhood sweetheart. Resentful of his father, who he blames for his mother’s passing, William rejects this path and joins the army. Captain William Harkness narrowly avoids death in Afghanistan during the disastrous Battle of Maiwand and returns to Britain scarred, both mentally and physically. He finds solace and comfort in drink and the arms of a young woman called Mary Kelly. When Mary dies under the Ripper’s blade, William’s lust for vengeance leads to his recruitment to Slaughter Yard. Under the wings of the Metropolitan Police, Harkness gathers a group of trusted individuals to hunt down the Ripper, without the constraints of the Police’s code of conduct.
It becomes clear that the Ripper is all too aware of Slaughter Yard, can Harkness outwit his cunning opponent? And what of Emily, now trapped in an abusive marriage?
In the Reaper’s Touch, Harkness and his comrades at Slaughter Yard continue the hunt, now convinced they face more than one individual. The Ripper has now changed target, not content with the slaughter of ladies of the night the Ripper is killing prominent individuals and seems intent on raising the racial tensions in the burgeoning metropolis of London. The nature of the Perpetrator(s) become more apparent with William and his men actively targeted. Fortunately, William has come to terms with his father as all hell breaks loose pursuing the men of Slaughter Yard to Cloveney.
In The Reaper’s Kiss the Ripper emerges once again after three years since his last reign of terror. William Harkness and his comrades at Slaughter Yard have kept watch certain that the Ripper and his organisation would emerge once more to inflict his bloody terror on London again. With the backing of his father Simeon, the investigation finds financial tentacles about the empire. Slaughter Yard begins cutting them one by one forcing the monster from the shadows.
Each book of the trilogy can stand alone as a novel, but its clear in the first two that a complete resolution is still to be reached. Personally, I devoured all three one after the other over the course of a few days. For a week I was walking fearfully in my minds’ eye, experiencing the menacing paranoia of the grimy streets of Victorian London. What death lurks in the shadows? Were those footsteps heard behind?
The author has the skilful ability to lob a shocking twist into the story, just when you think you know who the perpetrator of evil is you realise you’ve been tricked, just as Harkness has been duped. There is no real happy ever after as the Ripper’s influence has moulded Harkness, unbeknown to him.
Five stars for each book, dare you face the Reaper?
The Ripper Legacies are available as ebooks, audiobooks and paperbacks on
