Stalking Jack the Ripper
A brilliant young woman uses cutting-edge Victorian forensics to investigate a series of murders that terrify London. Her investigation leads her to uncover the true identity of Jack the Ripper and put herself in the killer's sights. Obsession, danger, and justice intertwine in this gothic thriller.
Everything You Need to Know About Stalking Jack the Ripper
Audrey Rose Wadsworth is a lord's daughter in Victorian London with a secret: she studies forensic medicine with her eccentric uncle, who's taught her to read a corpse like a book. When murders start echoing Jack the Ripper's MO, she can't resist investigating. Thomas Cresswell, brilliant, irritating, flirtatious, is her uncle's newest student. He's also a rival. As the investigation deepens and the murders mount, Audrey Rose and Thomas are forced into an uneasy partnership to catch a killer who understands the dead as well as she does.
The forensic science is actually interesting and not just window dressing. Audrey Rose's internal conflict between her curiosity and the rigid expectations placed on her as an upper-class woman feels genuine. The chemistry between her and Thomas crackles, they argue constantly, which is way more fun to read than insta-love. The period detail grounds the gothic atmosphere without overwhelming the pacing. Maniscalco builds genuine tension; you're not sure who the killer is, and the reveals actually surprise.
Audrey Rose is prickly and often unlikable, which makes her more interesting than a 'spunky' heroine.
Violence and gore (forensic descriptions, murdered bodies), historical misogyny and victim-blaming, brief sexual content, death of women.
The Ripper is someone close to Audrey Rose: her own brother Nathaniel. He has been killing women as part of a deranged scientific obsession with defeating death, rooted in their mother's fatal illness. The reveal recontextualizes the whole book. Thomas has no connection to the murders, he is exactly what he appears to be. Audrey Rose and Thomas are clearly headed toward each other by the end, but the romance stays a slow burn that builds over the sequels.
Fans of historical mystery (The Alienist, Penny Dreadful) who also want romance and period detail. Readers who love unreliable narrators and characters keeping secrets. Fair comps: Rebecca (gothic tension, unreliable perspectives), The Woman in White (Victorian mystery with multiple narrators) but more overtly romantic than either.
Book 1 of the four-book Stalking Jack the Ripper series, followed by Hunting Prince Dracula, Escaping From Houdini, and Capturing the Devil. Stands alone reasonably well as a mystery, but the romance and Audrey Rose's arc run across all four.
Reader Reviews
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!