Book 4 – “A Different Class of Murder” by Laura Thompson

My fourth book in this challenge is my second non-fiction title.

In 1974 the nanny of Lord Lucan was murdered and his wife was brutally attacked. Since that day there have been no verified sightings of the aristocrat. In A Different Class of Murder the author, Laura Thompson, examines in detail the events of that night, the context in which they happened and the myths that grew up around the story.

The author starts by talking about the state of the aristocracy in Britain in the 1970s and how the traditional sense of deference had been lost. Lord Lucan, the Earl of Lucan as he was, wanted to continue to live in the old way. He and his family lived an extravagant life, he held down no job and he funded their lifestyle by gambling. By 1974 this wasn’t working too well for Lord Lucan and he found himself cash poor, in a large amount of debt, being excluded from some of his usual clubs, and about to start what would be a painful and expensive divorce.

The legend says that these circumstances drove the Earl to attempt to murder his wife only to accidently kill the nanny by mistake. He then fled the country and either died by suicide or lived abroad for the rest of his life. Because the Earl disappeared the evidence to back up this generally accepted story has never been examined in court and it is the assertion of the author that the Earl’s guilt cannot be proved beyond all reasonable doubt (although she accepts that the prejudice against the wealthy playboy image that the Earl cultivated is such that he would probably have been convicted anyway).

The book looks at the evidence in detail and examines other possibilities for what happened that night. It also shows us how shoddy the police investigation was because they were convinced that they had the right culprit. The author includes a lot of detail about the mental health of the Countess of Lucan which was never shared publically at the time and theories of what might have happened to the missing Earl.

This is an interesting book and a thorough look at a crime which has become the basis for legends. It is good to be reminded that there were real people involved in these events and that the consequences of the murder affected many lives other than just those of the immediate participants. I found it a fascinating read which veered into social history and Britain’s changing attitudes to the wealthy. Thought provoking.