Catch Me When You Can
A Novel by J. Philip Davies
With the intensity of a psychological thriller and the depth of historical fiction, Catch Me When You Can opens with two eerily similar murders a thousand miles and three weeks apart. George Maybrick, a merchant seaman, is swiftly arrested and confesses—not just to these murders, but to others in port cities worldwide. Psychiatrist Dr. Richard Crane is called to assess Maybrick’s mental competency and treat his chronic nightmares. What he finds is chilling: a serial killer, who is a brilliant self-taught artist with a passion for the poetry of Dylan Thomas. Perplexed by Maybrick’s unique psychological profile, Crane calls upon Dr. Shoshana Liebman, an expert in past life regression therapy. While in therapy, they discover startling connections to Whitechapel in 1888, where the murder of five prostitutes occurred. Is Maybrick a manipulative liar, a copycat killer, or—more disturbingly—the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper? As past and present collide, can they uncover the truth behind the greatest unsolved murder mystery.
The scrawled writing on the wall caught O’Meara’s attention nearly before the ravaged corpse.
CATCH ME WHEN YOU CAN
About J. Philip Davies
Behind the Book From The Author
Jack the Ripper enthusiasts, generally referred to as Ripperologist, largely agree that he killed his last victim, Mary Kelly, on November 9, 1888, in her small boarding room at 13 Miller’s Court in London’s East End. Today, a 137 years later her murder and those of the other four women he killed remain unsolved. The Ripper is considered the first modern serial killer and one of the most intriguing cold cases to date. Well over 100 nonfiction books have been published entirely on the subject of Jack the Ripper. Every year the list grows by several more books. Add 19 movies and four documentaries and you have some sense of the fascination that the infamous Whitechapel murders still holds for crime enthusiasts today.
My initial exploration did not begin with the murders themselves, but rather an interest in the weapon that might have been used by the Ripper. Reading Michael Talbot’s, The Holographic Universe over 20 years ago I became fascinated with the idea of psychometry, also known as retrocognition. Individuals with this gift have the ability to hold an object or touch it to their forehead and often obtain information from the object with uncanny accuracy. This is an entire scientifically based school of archeology, called intuitive archeology that employs the tools of psychometry.
As I contemplated the possibilities of what might be the most interesting object to give a practitioner of psychometry the murder weapon used by Jack the Ripper was the very first thing to pop into my mind. And so, I started exploring what information I might learn about the Ripper’s murder weapon of choice.
Micheal Talbot and The Holographic Universe were not done with me yet, however. Over the years my wife, Roxanne, and I had debated the possibility of reincarnation. I remained convinced that the whole idea was theologically redundant. She argued that it made perfect sense. I read with rapt attention Talbot’s argument that our souls migrated from one body to another over the span of time. I was hooked. Several years earlier one of my students had given me an autographed copy of Brian Weiss’s Many Lives, Many Masters. Somehow everything seemed to come together. I shifted my attention away from the murder weapon to the person who wielded it and my newfound interest in reincarnation. The more I thought about the possibility of the first serial killer in modern history returning to the present day in the process of reincarnation took hold of me. I spent the next five years taking a deep dive into both subjects. As I did so I began to sketch out a narrative and create a series of characters that would eventually become Catch Me When You Can.
Now, after many starts and stops and twenty years later the novel is finished. Spoiler alert—if you read Catch Me When You Can you’ll learn where the title comes from by the second page.
What authors and Reviewers are saying about Catch Me When You Can
…a super unique spin on the Ripper story!
Catch Me When You Can gripped me from the start. While over 100 books have been written about Jack the Ripper, this one stands out as imaginative and compelling. Through meticulous research, Davies created an intriguing and unique novel. I was particularly fascinated by how he seamlessly integrated past life regression into the story, which offered thought-provoking twist on the Ripper legend. For anyone who enjoys thrilling tales of crime, mystery, and historical intrigue, I highly recommend the captivating Catch Me When You Can.
As a retired board certified psychiatrist, I appreciate scientifically based character development. Dr. Davies explores the psyche of a potential serial killer by using DSM criteria. His use of past life regression to take the killer back to his life as Jack the Ripper is compelling. Throw in a present day love story and you find yourself engrossed in a page turning piece of literature. I hope he decides to write the sequel.
