JACK OF JUMPS

Hardback, 1st edn. A chilling book which lays bear the sleazy underside of 1960s London. Between 1959 and 1965, 8 prostitutes were found naked and dead in West London. The 'nude' murders as they became known, were the most notorious unsolved crimes since Jack the Ripper - and just as bizarre. Why did the killer store their bodies in a warehoue for days before dumping them? Were the victims strangled or were they, as the police later claimed, choked to death during fellatio? The media dubbed the killer 'Jack the Stripper'. Links to the Profumo scandal, boxer Freddie Mills and the notorious Kray twins were rumoured. By the time the body of the 8th victim was found in February 1965, a massive police operation was underway. The whole country waited to see what would happen next. The police had staked everything on the murderer striking again. But he didn't. By October that year, the 'Daily Express' was asking 'Is the Nude Killer Dead?' In 1970 the detective who had led the enquiry announced that the police knew the identity of the killer - that he had committed suicide as the net closed around him, and that the police had vowed never to reveal his identity. And that was that, until now. The author spent 4yrs. investigating these crimes, interviewing surviving police officers, witnesses and associates of the victims and pored over the evidence, the rumours, the truths and half-truths. In this, the first in-depth book to be written about the murders, he meticulously reconstructs the police investigation and recreates the dark, brutal world of prostitutes and ponces in 1960s London. Illus., Bibliog. 370pp. 8vo. h/back. As New in dw. A fairly heavy book which will require additional postage if shipped overseas.