Book Review: Jack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman by John Morris

Few historical crimes have been examined, dissected and debated as exhaustively as the Whitechapel murders of 1888. 

In Jack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman, solicitor John Morris enters this crowded field with a bold and deliberately provocative thesis: that the Ripper may not have been a man at all.

This book is not a sensationalist shock piece, but a carefully argued reassessment of long-held assumptions surrounding the identity of Jack the Ripper, written through a legal and evidential lens.

A Legal Mind Applied to a Historical Mystery

Morris’s professional background as a solicitor shapes the structure and tone of the book. Rather than relying on lurid speculation, he approaches the case as though it were being prepared for court. 

Witness statements, timelines, physical logistics and contemporary assumptions are all scrutinised with a lawyer’s instinct for gaps and inconsistencies.

One of the book’s central strengths lies in its challenge to the automatic presumption that the killer must have been male. Morris examines how Victorian social norms, policing biases and gender expectations may have influenced both the investigation at the time and subsequent historical interpretations.

The Case for a Female Ripper

The core argument of The Hand of a Woman is not that a female Ripper is definitively proven, but that it is plausible, and that plausibility has never been properly explored.

Morris discusses:

How a woman could have moved through Whitechapel without attracting suspicion

Why bloodstained clothing on a woman may have been dismissed or explained away

The practicalities of the crimes in relation to dress, access and opportunity

Witness descriptions that may have been interpreted through a male-only assumption

This reframing is one of the book’s most compelling aspects. It encourages the reader to question how much of the accepted narrative is built on evidence, and how much rests on cultural expectation.

Measured, Not Dogmatic

Importantly, Morris does not overstate his case. The book avoids the trap of presenting a single named suspect as a dramatic “solution” to the mystery. Instead, it argues for intellectual honesty: that ruling out a female perpetrator has never been justified by the evidence itself.

Some readers may find this frustrating, particularly those looking for a definitive answer. However, this restraint ultimately strengthens the book’s credibility. Morris is less interested in closing the case than in reopening it properly.

Morris also has a very cogent argument for the reason why the evidence of one witness, which was dismissed as being "impossible" at the time was, actually, correct and lends support to his thesis.

Style and Accessibility

The writing is clear, structured and accessible, even for readers without deep prior knowledge of the Ripper case. While it engages seriously with historical material, it avoids academic dryness and remains readable throughout.

That said, readers already well-versed in Ripperology may find some background sections familiar. The value here lies not in uncovering new documents, but in re-interpreting existing evidence through a different lens.

Who This Book Is For

This book will particularly appeal to:

Readers interested in historical crime and legal reasoning

Those tired of repetitive Ripper theories centred on the same male suspects

Anyone curious about how bias shapes investigations, past and present

Readers who enjoy thoughtful challenge rather than sensational conclusions

Final Verdict

Jack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman does not claim to solve one of history’s most infamous mysteries, and it doesn’t need to. Its real achievement is in forcing the reader to confront how assumptions, rather than evidence, can harden into “fact”.

Whether or not one accepts Morris’s conclusions, the book succeeds as a serious, intelligent and unsettling contribution to Ripper studies. At the very least, it ensures that the question “what if?” can no longer be dismissed out of hand.

For a case built on shadows and uncertainty, that alone makes it a worthwhile and thought-provoking read.

This will make a most excellent Christmas gift for lovers of true life, unsolved crimes and the Jack the Ripper case. 

You can order your copy from our Amazon-powered online shop, here https://amzn.to/4pw3qtS