My mate has a vague memory of a short story he read once.
I told him the SDMB has a superb track record of finding things out from such skimpy information.
Here’s what he remembers:
the story is about Jack the Ripper (possibly in the first person?).
the narrator is either Jack or reveals who is by the end
it’s set in some modern-day US city (Los Angeles?)
the bulk of the story is a conversation between Jack and a detective - the cop gets killed by Jack near the end (reminiscent of ‘The Usual Suspects?!’)
MAYBE… just maybe, you’re thinking of “The Hands of Mr. Ottermole,” by Thomas Burke.
The story wasn’t set in the U.S., it’s set in London in the 1930s. But it was adapted as an episode of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” which might have updated the setting a bit.
In the story I refer to, there’s a serial killer at large. A reporter figures out who did it- a policeman. But the policeman kills the nosy reporter before he can be exposed.
As I recall, the story DID end with a conversation between the policeman and the reporter. The reporter asks, simply, “Why did you do it?” And the murderous policeman says, essentially, “I don’t rightly know. It’s as if the hands have a mind of their own.” And he proceeds to strangle the reporter.
After which, apparently, the policeman has had enough killing, and just stops, cold turkey. The reporter is his last victim.
Sorry, hit submit before I was done my post – I was trying to add that I thought it was inspired by/based on a short story, but the Internet Movie Database doesn’t mention that. It might be a starting point for a bigger search though.
sigh Clearly, the vast amounts of hairspray I formerly used in order to achieve 1980s poofy-hair seeped through my skull and eroded my brain. I swear I remember hearing that Jack’s Back was based on a short story. Though I can find several references to different versions of Yours Truly…, I can find * nothing* that corroborates what I’m (mis)remembering.
I can only conclude I’m suffering from brain damage.
And now my matehas been on to a well-known Internet marketing company (named after a female warrior-type, if you need a clue), asking for Robert Bloch books.
But wait…
He thinks it was part of an anthology.
So do you lot want to impress him even more by finding which anthology ‘Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper’ is in?
You don’t have to - but I know you like a challenge.
It’s after midnight here, so you have several hours before I log in again - easy, peasy!
This dissertation looks like it contains everything you could ever want to know about the Robert Bloch story Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, including the fact that it was first published in the July 1943 issue of Weird Tales.
