Book description
Just before 3am on January 24th, 1941, when Britain was preoccupied
with surviving the Blitz, the body of Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, was
discovered lying on the floor of his Buick, at a road intersection
some miles outside Nairobi, with a bullet in his head.
A leading figure in Kenya's colonial community, the Earl had
recently been appointed Military Secretary, but he was primarily a
seducer of other men's wives. Sir Henry Delves Broughton, whose wife
was Erroll's current conquest, had an obvious motive for the murder,
but no one was ever convicted and the question of who killed him
became a classic mystery, a scandal and cause celebre.
Among those who became fascinated with the Erroll case was Cyril
Connolly who joined up with James Fox for a major investigation of the
case in 1969 for the Sunday Times magazine. After his death
James Fox inherited the obsession and a commitment to continue in
pursuit of the story both in England and Kenya in the late 1970s. One
day, on a veranda overlooking the Indian Ocean, Fox came across a
piece of evidence that seemed to bring all the fragments and pieces
together and convinced him that he saw a complete picture...
A story which is as compelling and violent as a thriller, but which
also happens to be one of the most dazzling feats of reportage in recent
years Time Out It is a measure of James Fox's remarkable achievement
that in White Mischief he not only produces an impeccably researched and
lucidly written "last word" on this notorious case but also
brings these astonishing people and their perplexed lives so vividly and
compellingly to life -- William Boyd A fascinating piece of
investigative reporting that possesses all the resonance of a social
history and the drama of a good mystery...[and] a narrative strategy
that allows the reader the excitement of watching a tenacious reporter
piece together the truth New York Times Leave P. D. James on the shelf,
tuck Dick Francis away in the saddlebag, James Fox's investigation has
everything you look for in a thriller The Economist James Fox was born
in Washington DC in 1945 and educated in England. He worked as a
journalist in Africa and then in England, for the
Sunday Times
and the
Observer
, and has written for numerous other publications. His other books
include
The Langhorne Sisters
and co-authorship of
Life
, Keith Richards' bestselling autobiography.
White Mischief
was made into a movie starring Greta Scacchi and Charles Dance.
