Muriel Spark and Lord Lucan

We went to Auntie’s today and I found some treasures, including a copy of a Muriel Spark novel, AIDING AND ABETTING (2001.)

Miss Spark is best known for THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1961.) She has written some other superb novels, including THE MANDELBAUM GATE (1963), MEMENTO MORI (1959), and THE ABESS OF CREWE (1974.)

AIDING AND ABETTING is based on the true story of the seventh Earl of Lucan, who in 1974 disappeared, leaving behind his battered wife and the body of their children’s nanny. Lord Lucan has reportedly been seen here and there over the years, particularly in Africa. But none of these appearances has been substantiated. He was officially declared dead in 1999, though his body has never been discovered.

In this witty satire Lord Lucan arrives in the office of a psychiatrist in Paris. But the doctor already has a patient who claims he is Lord Lucan. The story of her attempt to determine which (if either) is the real earl is complicated by her own somewhat sinister past.