Aiding and Abetting, by Muriel Spark
This is a rather confusing book to read, but that does not make it an annoying or disagreeable read. In 1974 (and this is true, you can look it up) a Lord Lucan was accused in absentia of killing his children's nanny and attempting to kill his wife (the Lord, acknowledged by his friends as being not that bright, initially mistook the nanny for his wife and then then tried to correct his mistake) but with the help of his upper crust friends managed to escape England and stay on the run ever since. He was declared legally dead in 1998 or '99, I think, but, like Elvis, sightings of him continue to this day in both Europe and Africa. If he is still alive, he'd be about 80 now.
This book is Spark's fantasy about what became of him after the murder and assault, and hinges on three main characters: Lord Lucan, his therapist (and con-woman) Dr. Wolf, and his butler Walker whom Lucan uses as a double. The three meet when both Lucan and Walker separately become Wolf's patients in an attempt to blackmail her for money over her con-artist past. Walker is also blackmailing Lucan, who participates in blackmailing himself, while Wolf quickly resorts to blackmailing both of them in order to keep her dodgy past a secret. I said it was confusing.
It's also very funny, esp. at the end, and with Spark as the writer it's a very well written story. Here's a snippet I particularly like:
As Hildegard knew from her own experience as a stigmatic fraud, blood, once let loose, gets all over the place. It sticks, it flows, it garishly advertises itself or accumulates in dark thick puddles. Once it gets going, there is no stopping blood.
That's eye-grabbing stuff. The thee of them go thru the book circling one another like a trio of vultures until everything is collected together and resolved very neatly in a weird and skewed happy ending. Or at least an ending full of poetic justice, which is happy enough for me.
This book is Spark's fantasy about what became of him after the murder and assault, and hinges on three main characters: Lord Lucan, his therapist (and con-woman) Dr. Wolf, and his butler Walker whom Lucan uses as a double. The three meet when both Lucan and Walker separately become Wolf's patients in an attempt to blackmail her for money over her con-artist past. Walker is also blackmailing Lucan, who participates in blackmailing himself, while Wolf quickly resorts to blackmailing both of them in order to keep her dodgy past a secret. I said it was confusing.
It's also very funny, esp. at the end, and with Spark as the writer it's a very well written story. Here's a snippet I particularly like:
As Hildegard knew from her own experience as a stigmatic fraud, blood, once let loose, gets all over the place. It sticks, it flows, it garishly advertises itself or accumulates in dark thick puddles. Once it gets going, there is no stopping blood.
That's eye-grabbing stuff. The thee of them go thru the book circling one another like a trio of vultures until everything is collected together and resolved very neatly in a weird and skewed happy ending. Or at least an ending full of poetic justice, which is happy enough for me.