JUST ARRIVED -  A new Jack the Ripper title : JACK THE RIPPER DISSECTING THE TRUTH by Roger Barber - signed copies. This is the first book on the Whitechapel murders to use psychological analysis. With the lack of physical evidence, Roger has concentrated on the purpose of the killings as well as the significance of the mutilations. In so doing, he has highlighted a likely suspect who, as yet, has not previously been in the frame. The Foreword has been written by leading crime historian, Stewart P. Evans. Illus. with 8pp. of b/w photographs, Bibliog. and Index. 188pp. soft cover. Roger was a contributor to the Grey House Books publication 'Who Was Jack the Ripper? A Collection of Present-Day Theories and Observations'.  SIGNED BY ROGER BARBER with tipped-in label SIGNED BY STEWART P. EVANS. £15.00 + postage at the local rate. PLEASE NOTE: If you are an overseas customer wanting to purchase this title, please make separate contact pre-ordering, so that I can provide you with an accurate postage charge. Quite often, the actual charge is lower than the default setting, which is based on a hardback book.

JUST IN - SIDNEY FOX'S CRIME The true story of Sidney Fox and the Margate hotel murder, by Glenn Chandler (creator of 'Taggart') Signed. Illus., Sources and Index. 264pp. p/back. Highly recommended. £15.00 + postage at the local rate.

BACK IN STOCK : THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS OF 1888: ANOTHER DEAD END? by John Malcolm - Signed, Numbered Limited Edn. (to 100). A revised and updated edition of 'Confessions of a Ripperologist' first published in 2005. The book is also illustrated with modern full-colour photos of what remains of the murder sites, as well as several contemporary photos. It is very different from the 2005 version - it's still full colour throughout, and the production is far superior this time. Illus., Propaganda/Appendix or Unnecessary Addenda. 214pp. trade size softcover. SIGNED, NUMBERED (to 100) LIMITED EDITION. ​  Price : £25.00 + postage at the local rate.

NOW IN STOCK : Jack the Ripper The Scenes of Crime by Robert Clack. A journey through the streets of Jack the Ripper's London from the past to the present. Profusely illustrated in colour and black/white + Maps. 201pp. 4to hardback with pictorial glazed covers. Includes tipped-in label SIGNED BY ROB. Published by Wee Hoose Books. Price : £25.00 + postage at the local rate. 

As the result of recent acquisitions, it has been necessary for me to introduce a new catalogue entry : General Books (Not True Crime). The books I'm currently cataloguing fall into this category, as they are from the library of the legendary Scotland Yard detective, the late Leonard 'Nipper' Read, who very sadly died in April last year. His interests (apart from true crime titles already catalogued), included boxing (he was Chair then President of the British Boxing Board of Control), military and Scott's expedition to the Antarctic plus other miscellaneous titles, including detective fiction, particularly John Grisham.

THE WHITECHAPEL ALBUM:
JACK THE RIPPER’S EAST END IN 1995
Compiled by Loretta Lay and Adam Wood

New Softcover.
Although the occasional photograph had been taken of locations associated with Jack the Ripper since 1888 by journalists, interested individuals and early authors, it was in the 1960s, with the advent of the more affordable camera, that budding young photographers with an interest in the Ripper case began visiting Whitechapel, Spitalfields and Aldgate, in the process creating a visual record of the area. The black-and-white images captured by the likes of John Gordon Whitby, Stewart Evans and Christian Wheeldon gave the now-familiar sites a uniquely haunting air.

Among these visitors during the Sixties was Ray Luff, a keen Ripperologist who went to the murder sites in 1965. As increasing numbers of visitors with cameras and video equipment visited Whitechapel throughout the 1970s and 80s so that the area became more frequently catalogued, Ray himself returned in the mid-1990s to comprehensively photograph the streets and sites he had captured thirty years previously.

His collection of more than 430 photographs taken in 1995 was acquired by true crime bookdealer Loretta Lay, and 87 of these have been carefully selected for this book by Adam Wood, author and editor of Ripperologist magazine, to represent the area as it was a quarter of a century ago, when many reading this will have first become familiar with the buildings and streets of Whitechapel.

THE WHITECHAPEL ALBUM contains images of buildings such as the dilapidated Board School on Durward Street and the long-neglected Soup Kitchen for Poor Jews on Brune Street, both since completely renovated into expensive City apartments, alongside images of the more recently demolished Mitre Square. How many visiting the area in the 1990s stopped for a sandwich at the little café at the top of Church Passage?

Other striking images include Wood’s Buildings, still accessible in 1995, and the Wash House on Old Castle Street, closed and redeveloped within three years of Ray Luff’s visit.

For some, the 87 photographs in this book will be the first time these places have been seen, while for many they will represent a nostalgic step back in time. Whereas today the area has seen change at an incredible rate, with more fully expected, the mid-1990s Whitechapel seems now, looking back, to have to been the cusp on which development began. Many of the Victorian buildings were certainly run down, abandoned and neglected, but they still stood - it was possible to get a glimpse of Jack the Ripper’s East End.

The photographs in this book are a vivid reminder of those times.

£15.00 (+p&p at the local rate). A4 softcover, colour throughout.

 'MAKE ME AN OFFER'. If I have a higher priced title on the website which, in the current climate, is a little out of reach financially for you, please feel free to make contact via the link and, literally, make me an offer. I will consider all/any offers made and get back to you with a yes or no, or possibly negotiate. I will be listing the titles that are available over the next week or so, and will include any 'newly added' titles which fall into this category as I catalogue them. This offer only applies to those books indicated, and are always £50.00 or more in value.

Welcome to Loretta Lay Books website, which you will see caters for those interested in not just antiquarian and out-of-print true crime books, but also some of those elusive Jack the Ripper titles.

Payments can be made via PayPal, as well as by cheque (as long as it is in sterling on a British bank), or directly into my bank account (details will be provided upon request). Unfortunately I will no longer be processing credit cards myself - so apologies to those customers this is likely to affect, but it is very simple to sign-up with PayPal. I would actually recommend that you open an account with Loretta Lay Books via the website, for ease of transaction. All information provided is secure, and doesn't involve any credit card information.

The messageboard is available for those of you who need help with research, or want to promote a true crime book you have written, or for general messages including opinions on any true crime or associated subjects. Reviews of titles you have bought (not just from my site) are most welcome. They don't have to be new books, but anything you consider to be required reading. Having said that, I do prefer positives rather than negatives!

The site can only work successfully with your input - put www.laybooks.com into your 'Favourites' and if you like it, recommend it to your friends.

I hope you find the book you are looking for, but if it's not there, contact me and I'll try to find it for you.

Thank you for visiting my website, come back again soon.

Loretta Lay