If you can get your hands on it (and it's expensive to buy on Amazon as of this writing, and available in only one US library, and only because I gave them my copy), and you are really into Jack the Ripper, I highly recommend this book. The author set out to write a biography of Mary Kelly, the last of the "canonical five" victims of our elusive serial killer, using information from the available records, but quickly learned this was impossible. As the title implies...no one seems to know who Mary Kelly was. She told a story to her boyfriend about being born in Wales, marrying young to a miner and being widowed in a mining accident, but this is not supported by the records -- as far as Christopher Scott can tell, all the information she provided was false. This book is as much about his fruitless search for Mary Kelly in the genealogical record as it is about the woman herself.

I would only recommend this book to people who are Jack the Ripper fanatics -- if you don't have a good background and a strong interest in the murders, this isn't going to be worth it for you. But I AM a JTR fanatic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would also recommend Carroty Nell by John E. Keefe, a biography of Frances Cole, the last of the Whitechapel murder victims. ( )