It is 25 years after Lord Lucan's mysterious disappearance in the wake of the vicious murder of his children's nanny. The celebrated psychiatrist Dr Hildegard Wolf is approached in her Paris consulting rooms by not one, but two men, both claiming tobe Lucan. Dr Wolf is intrigued. Which, if either, of the men is the real 'Lucky' Lucan? And can she discover the truth before her own dark secret is revealed?
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At the end of the 20th century, an Englishman in his 60s walks into the Paris practice of famed Bavarian psychiatrist Dr Hildegard Wolf and announces that he is the missing Lord Lucan. But Hildegrad, key protagonist of Muriel Spark's new novel Aiding and Abetting, is already treating one Lord Lucan, and they both have dirt on her--for isn't she really Beate Pappenheim, the fraud who used her menstrual blood to fake her stigmata? Increasingly obsessed with the Lucans, and fearing for her safety, Hildegard flees to London where her path inevitably crosses that of two British Lucan-hunters...
The seventh earl of Lucan disappeared on 7 November 1974, leaving behind him the battered body of his children's nanny Sandra Rivett and a beaten wife. Lucan´s sensational story and the possibilities of his whereabouts over the past quarter century provide Spark with several issues with which wittily to play: identity, blood ("it is not purifying, it is sticky"), class (working class nannies bleed more than the aristocracy), the dynamics of psychiatry ("most of the money wasted on psychoanalysis goes on time spent unravelling the lies of the patient"). But it remains a strange, slight affair--its unspoken tenet being that the Lucan case still preys on the communal mind of the British public, its details (like his penchant for smoked salmon and lamp chops) indelibly printed there. For anyone under 30 that's a difficult argument to swallow, and for good reason. As one wise character puts it "Few people today would take Lucan and his pretensions seriously, as they rather tended to do in the 70s". Times have changed--and perhaps that's Spark's point, that the "psychological paralysis" that allowed Lucan to escape is now long gone. --Alan Stewart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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'Unmistakable Spark, to be relished and enjoyed, like a late vintage claret or a high-grade murder' The Times
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a real treat to read, with a wonderfully appropriate grande finale which depends on surprise! A unique and suspenseful twist on the traditional murder mystery, this novel features wacky, off-the-wall characters--including two men who claim to be the murderer Lord Lucan, a variety of aristocratic "aiders and abettors" who have protected and financially supported him for twenty-five years, a psychiatrist who was once a phony stigmatic but who is now treating both "Lucans," and several former acquaintances who now want Lucan caught, only because "...times have changed...Lucky Lucan failed to show up [for questioning], which was really lowering our standards....he was a very great bore."
Satiric and mordantly critical of aristocratic pretension, this is vintage Spark. Her plot is very tight, with no loose ends and no digressions, and her selection of details is exquisitely careful and controlled. Her themes and motifs, especially those of blood as it relates to both crime and breeding, are so intricately connected to all the characters and the plot, that it is difficult to discuss them without giving away the clever plot twists. And Spark does all this in less than two hundred pages! It's impossible not to read this at a gallop to find out what happens--while smiling the whole time at Spark's wry wit. Mary Whipple
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Eileen Shaw
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Muriel Spark here writes a version of what happened to Lord Lucan, after he murdered the family's young nanny, tried to murder his wife and fled with the assistance of several rich, dissolute, English acquaintances. Some of these were real friends of course, as it seems, in life as well as the course of this novel, they continued to support him while he was hiding out in various places around the world.
Dr Hildegarde Wolfe, a psychologist living and working in Paris, receives visits from two men claiming to be Lord Lucan. Which is the real one? Are they working together? What is it they know about Dr Wolfe that makes them confident she will not expose them?
This is far too relaxed and self-absorbed to be a mystery in the genré sense of the word and suspense is quite absent, since that is not what Muriel Spark is interested in. The book is a short diverting romp through the conundrum of what really happened to Lord Lucan. There is a certain arid quality since no attempt is made to make any of the characters resonant or to flesh out the actual Lucan mystery itself. Little imagination is expended on what Lucan might really have been up to all these years. The characters are draughts-pieces in Spark's game, which doesn't really make itself felt in the human sense. Intellectually, it is also a bit pointless, and ultimately one doesn't really give a damn.
Dr Hildegarde Wolfe, a psychologist living and working in Paris, receives visits from two men claiming to be Lord Lucan. Which is the real one? Are they working together? What is it they know about Dr Wolfe that makes them confident she will not expose them?
This is far too relaxed and self-absorbed to be a mystery in the genré sense of the word and suspense is quite absent, since that is not what Muriel Spark is interested in. The book is a short diverting romp through the conundrum of what really happened to Lord Lucan. There is a certain arid quality since no attempt is made to make any of the characters resonant or to flesh out the actual Lucan mystery itself. Little imagination is expended on what Lucan might really have been up to all these years. The characters are draughts-pieces in Spark's game, which doesn't really make itself felt in the human sense. Intellectually, it is also a bit pointless, and ultimately one doesn't really give a damn.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Twenty-five years after the murder of nanny Sandra Rivett, two Lord Lucans consult Parisian psychiatrist Dr. Hildegard Wolf. The anniversary is also the catalyst for a new investigation into Lucan's disappearance, conducted by the daughter of one of Lucan's former friends. Hildegard is initially shocked by having to treat two Lucans, but then takes it in her stride. One of the Lucans, obviously, has to be fake, but which one? However, both Lucans know about Hildegard's subversive past, and have got a hold on her, forcing her to flee. If it's one thing Lucan knows well, it's how to run...
Resumes of this novel can't help but sound fantastic and more than a little distasteful. After all, those who suffered from Lucan's crime are still living. However, the disappearance of Lucan remains as enigmatic today as it ever was. The rumours of what happened to him, and what actually happened on the night he killed Sandra Rivett are numerous. All these are discussed in Spark's novel, although the common belief amongst Lucan's former friends that he must have killed himself is arbitrarily dismissed. The question is how could such a dull man ever have evaded capture for so long? One of the most improbable stories about Lucan, printed in the Guardian at the time of the murder, was that he was once considered for the film role of James Bond.
It seems that Muriel Spark has borrowed the name of Robert Walker (the alias of one of the Lucans), from Hitchcock's film 'Strangers on a Train'. This fits her story since both Lucans are presumed to be in collusion with one another for some reason. In Hitchcock's film, Robert Walker kills Farley Granger's wife, and then blackmails Granger to murder his business tycoon father. Both Lucans blackmail Hildegard about her shady past.
... Read more ›6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The absurdities of the upper classes often amuse readers, and this one is excellent in that regard. Being the 7th Earl of Lucan doesn't mean that you have any sense, have any purpose in your life, or do any good. Regardless of all that, people will rally around to help him . . . because of the old school tie and all that.
Ms. Spark seems to have imagined her ending, and then simply developed a plot that could connect that back to the real-life murder and attempted murder that form the basis of the book.
Ms. Spark seems to have imagined her ending, and then simply developed a plot that could connect that back to the real-life murder and attempted murder that form the basis of the book.
The second story line is about a fake stigmatic from Bavaria who disappeared after stealing donated funds. Being at least a little imaginative, Beate Pappenheim will appeal to more readers than Lord Lucan will. However, she wasn't really necessary for the joke, but does give Ms. Spark the ability to stretch a short story into a novella.
To stir up a little interest, the book has a small mystery to solve. Who is Lord Lucan? In pursuing this idea of identity, the book takes off on modern psychiatry . . . basically pointing out that there's not much there. Ms. Pappenheim pretends to be a psychiatrist, ignores all the rules, and still creates a series of very devoted patients who depend on her.
Ms. Spark also explores imagery in many significant ways to develop her story. Blood is the key image. Blood ties the upper classes together. Blood is part of a woman's monthly cycle. A messy murder causes blood to be spilled. Being able to use blood in new ways creates opportunity for Ms. Pappenheim. Being able to describe what it's like to kill in cold blood is a way to identify Lord Lucan. And so on. Ms. Sharp shows her writing brilliance in these ways.
Ultimately, I was sorry that she didn't pick a more worthy subject for her humor.
... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not of this world, I'm afraid.
Aiding and Abetting
This book was a great disappointment, I thought - a short story padded out to roughly the length of half a novel. Read more
This book was a great disappointment, I thought - a short story padded out to roughly the length of half a novel. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2008 by John_the_Commonweal
4.0 out of 5 stars
Satire, Irony, and Farce
The absurdities of the upper classes always amuse, and this one is excellent in that regard. Being the 7th Earl of Lucan doesn't mean that you have any sense, have any purpose in... Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2001 by Donald Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another excellent novel from one of the finestwriters around
Muriel Spark is one of the most entertaining, imaginative, and endlessly daring writers around. Her use of language is astounding and the way she plays with and subverts your... Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2000 by Leo McMarley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfectly wrought work of art
What a fantastic book! I have just finished it and am about to start again. Characters, settings, plot are delineated with an incredible concentration: nothing is superfluous and... Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2000
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