A DOUBLE LIFE

Flynn Berry (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Picture this: a peer of the realm lives with his family and a live-in nanny in a beautiful home in Mayfair, London. Everything appears to be a fairytale, but underneath all is not well. The Lord is a gambler on a perpetual losing streak, and his wife is from the wrong strata of society. Then, one night his wife is attacked and left soaking in blood, and the nanny is found murdered. The husband disappears, only to be sighted hundreds of times over the next 40 years, from the local chip shop to Timbuktu. Sound familiar? To those of a certain age the story of Lord Lucan will be. And now, it appears as a what-if thriller by Flynn Berry, as one of the children left bereft decides to try and find her father. It’s a superb crime novel that mixes fact and fiction. MTI

Price: £14.99. Info: www.penguinrandomhouse.com