Patricia Cornwell fails to convince by rehashing the Ripper

Cornwell has spent more than $6 million researching her thesis on Jack the Ripper

Almost 130 years on, the Jack the Ripper case remains unsolved Pic: Getty

True crime: Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, By Patricia Cornwell, Thomas & Mercer, €22.40

Patricia Cornwell thinks she may be haunted by the ghost of Jack the Ripper. During her 16-year hunt for the infamous Victorian serial killer, she has sensed “an entity, a terrifically negative energy that, when invoked, causes strange aberrations of physics”.

This entity has apparently made its presence felt through malfunctioning computers, slammed doors and mysterious footsteps, ...