By Sharon K. Gilbert
Though the core plot and characters of The Redwing Saga series of books encompasses far more than Jack the Ripper, this series of brutal slayings does play an integral role in the early books in the series. Researching these murders is made easier with the advent of Internet archives. There are numerous Ripper websites, but one that I’ve found very useful is Casebook.org, which not only provides commentary but also original texts of police reports, newspaper articles, and even post-mortem reports. This morning, I’ve been reviewing the report submitted by Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown, who examined the body of Catherine Eddowes, both on scene and at the Golden Lane mortuary.
It’s heartbreaking to read how this woman met her last moments of life. Photos show an emaciated form, striped with horrific cuts and slashes, but Brown’s description makes it more chilling, because the murderer clearly ‘staged and posed’ much of what the police discovered that night. When Catherine Eddowes lived, she surely never imagined that her name and final images would form substrate for a monster.