# Can you identify this story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730 "2003-01-24T22:19:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/1 "2003-01-24T22:19:35Z")
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?!’) Don’t let me down people! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/2 "2003-01-24T22:28:59Z")
This sounds a lot like Interview with a Vampire?!? It’s not possible that that is what you’re thinking of is it? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/3 "2003-01-24T22:31:02Z")
Sounds like [_Jack’s Back_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0095389). 1988 with James Spader, takes place in LA. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/4 "2003-01-24T22:31:09Z")
crap, missed an important word in the OP-“read”. my appologies. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/5 "2003-01-24T22:35:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/6 "2003-01-24T22:37:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/7 "2003-01-24T22:40:05Z")
That sounds a lot like _Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper_ by Robert Bloch. It was adapted for the TV series _Thriller_, hosted by Boris Karloff. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/8 "2003-01-24T22:44:40Z")
Well done, SDMB! My mate wasn’t expecting anything for a couple of weeks :eek: … he doesn’t know the power of the Teeming Millions. But he says, although you’re on the right lines, it was definitely a short story (set in the US) - perhaps in an anthology. Keep trying! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/9 "2003-01-24T22:55:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rowrrbazzle \* > [That sounds a lot like _Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper_ by Robert Bloch. It was adapted for the TV series _Thriller_, hosted by Boris Karloff. He reckons you’ve got it! 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 He thinks the SDMB is d_mn_d impressive! :eek: 21 minutes from query to answer - I love it!! 🆒 Take a cyber reward (I’m British, so it will be … a manly handshake) ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/10 "2003-01-24T23:22:45Z")
_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. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/11 "2003-01-25T01:19:37Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story/150730/12 "2003-01-25T01:32:35Z")
This [dissertation](http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-bloch.html) 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. > [@](#): > > In 1988, Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper featured in two different anthologies. One, Jack the Ripper, was published in Britain; the other, Red Jack, in America.