Jack the Ripper was a serial killer who was active in London in 1888. Although numerous arrests were made in response to the killings, the true identity of the murderer—who preyed on vulnerable women in London’s East End—was never discovered. Eleven murders were committed in the East End during this period. Although none of these can be categorically tied to a single individual, five murders—known as the “canonical five”—are widely believed to be the work of Jack the Ripper, who was also known as The Apron and The Whitechapel Murderer.

Maniscalco has created a fictionalized version of these historical events, and she attributes the murders to her fictional character Nathaniel Wadsworth. Despite this fictional addition, Maniscalco has adhered to many historical facts of the case, including the identities of some of the women who were suspected victims of the ripper: Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols, Emma Elizabeth Smith, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.

Jack the Ripper tended to cut the throats of his victims and then mutilate their abdomens, genitals, and sometimes their faces. In some cases, organs were removed and placed around the room at the crime scene; Eddowes’s uterus and left kidney were removed as was Kelly’s heart, and Chapman’s uterus was taken from the scene of the crime.