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Welcome! Like the book of the same name, this blog is an eclectic collection of Sherlockian scribblings based on more than a half-century of reading Sherlock Holmes. Please add your own thoughts. You can also follow me on Twitter @DanAndriacco and on my Facebook fan page at Dan Andriacco Mysteries. You might also be interested in my Amazon Author Page. My books are also available at Barnes & Noble and in all main electronic formats including Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBooks for the iPad.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Hot News on the Ripper Front


 
One doesn’t have to consult Phil Jones’s massive database of Sherlock Holmes pastiches (with about 12,000 entries last time I looked) to know that Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is one of the most popular themes of post-Canonical tales. 

That’s understandable: Since Holmes and the Ripper were contemporaries, it’s almost impossible to credit that the Geat Detective didn’t solve the most famous serial killings of his time – and even less credible that he wasn’t asked to do so. 

It’s a good bet, then, that many Sherlockians have more than a passing interest in Ripper lore as well. For that reason, my Ripperologist friend Janis Wilson sent me the following to pass on to you: 

I am a co-organizer of an international Jack the Ripper convention, RipperCon, which will be held in Baltimore April 8-10.  We have people coming from England and Australia, so it is to be an interesting event.  I will be moderating a panel on the Ripper fiction and another on the Jewish suspects in the case. 

For those of you who do not know, Martin Fido is a leading Ripper scholar and historian who, in my opinion, cracked the case and discovered the identity of the real killer, as outlined in my recently completed novel, Goulston Street.  He is our keynote speaker.
Information is available on Facebook: 


The speakers are --

  • Martin Fido - “Ripperology and Anti-Semitism”
  • David Sterritt - "The Ripper, the Lodger, and Hitchcock's Existential Outsider"
  • Stephen Hunter - “Finding a Voice for the Ripper (Writing Ripper fiction)”
  • Mike Hawley - “Francis Tumblety - Amongst the Best Suspects”
  • Robert Anderson - "Long Island Serial Killer"
  • Sarah Beth Hopton - "Jill the Ripper/Mary Pearce"
  • Howard Brown - "Diamonds in the Rough: A Positive View of the Contemporary Papers"
  • Christopher T. George - The Last Days of Edgar Allan Poe -- Murder or Something Else?"
  • Fiction panel chaired by Janis Wilson featuring David Sterritt, Stephen Hunter, and Mr. Hunter's researcher, Lenne Miller
  • Other panels and surprises throughout weekend
MC’s for the weekend are Jonathan Menges of Casebook: Jack the Ripper's Rippercast and Caseboo’s Ally Ryder.

Registration for RipperCon is $250 payable by Paypal to editorctrip@yahoo.com or by check made out to Christopher T. George, 3800 Canterbury Road, Apt 3E, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. U.S. funds only please. The registration fee includes talks and panels Friday 1 to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Maryland Historical Society, including lunch and refreshments; Friday night reception at the Mount Vernon Hotel, and Saturday evening banquet at the hotel. After dinner entertainment is Poe's Last Stanza http://doordiemystery.com/poes-last-stanza/

Sunday bus tour of Baltimore, including Edgar Allan Poe Grave and House, Tumblety and John Wilkes Booth associated sites and Nutshell Studies, is $40 extra. Tour includes on your own lunch at a restaurant in Baltimore's famed Inner Harbor. 

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