Released this time last year by iBooks, JACK THE RIPPER would be a real bargain at its $6.99 cover price simply for the complete Ellery Queen novel included within, in which Sherlock Holmes hunts down the world’s most infamous serial killer. At 140 pages, A STUDY IN TERROR manages the difficult balance of Arthur Conan Doyle’s style with the unpleasantness of London’s most famous night stalker and Queen’s often tongue-in-cheek wit.
But it doesn’t stop there. You also get two famous Ripper stories by Harlan Ellison and PSYCHO author Robert Bloch, “The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World” and “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper,” respectively. Readers may recall that both these stories were featured in Ellison’s landmark DANGEROUS VISIONS collection, and they bookend this collection; however, since “Prowler” is considered the sequel, their order should be reversed.
There’s another novella with the inclusion of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ old-fashioned but nonetheless suspenseful THE LODGER, made into the Alfred Hitchcock film classic of the same name. MR. SARDONICUS author Ray Russell offers the lengthy “Sagittarius,” while Vincent McConnor, Ramsey Campbell and LOGAN’S RUN creator William F. Nolan round out the anthology with their short stories.
Originally issued by DAW Books as RED JACK, this anthology is a real winner, and rare in that there’s not a single disappointing story in the bunch.
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