THE BLACKOUT MURDERS The Compelling True Story

Hardback. In 1942, London faced a reign of terror unknown since Jack the Ripper. While the Luftwaffe bombed London and its citizens fled underground, a killer emerged from the shadows to satisfy his inner darkness. In February 1942, a woman was found strangled in a London air raid shelter. Chief Superintendent Frederick Cherrill, head of Scotland Yard's revolutionary Fingerprint Division, knew just how well the wartime blackouts concealed crime. But this was a brutal, senseless killing with few clues, no apparent motive - and no sign of the terror to come. The nightly air raids had darkened London's neon dazzle but not its urge to live it up. With death a daily possibility, drink and sex were everywhere. But one man had other urges. Over a 5-day period, he murdered with a lightening-fast ferocity that stunned and baffled investigators. Dubbed the 'Blackout Ripper', he left few clues in his bloody wake - until a slip-up revealed his true identity, and shocked a city that thought it had seen it all. In this compelling true life thriller, the author provides the unvarnished reality of a killer who seemed so decent, so cheerful, so normal...Featuring 28yr old wartime airman, Gordon Frederick Cummins, hanged on June 25, 1942, at Wandsworth Prison for the murder of 4 women. With a Note on Sources. 286pp. 8vo. h/back. Jacket design by Andrew Wadsworth. F. in F. protected dw.