By Muriel park
Lord Lucan, 7th Earl of Lucan murdered the nanny, Sandra Rivett and attempted to bludgeon his wife, Lady Lucan to death. However, Lady Lucan escapes, raises alarm and identifies her ex-husband as the attacker and murderer. Lord Lucan disappeared that night- 7th November 1974 never to be seen again.
Aiding and Abetting is based on hypothesis. Lord “Lucky” Lucan visits psychiatrist, Dr.Hildegard Wolf, 25 years later, to seek help. Unknown to him, another one of Dr.Wolf’s patients has already confessed to being “Lucky” Lucan. Lucan has been on the run since 1974, aided by his friends and contacts in high places. As his friends start give in to old age, Lucan has to find other means of surviving.
Dr.Hildegard Wolf was raised as Beate Pappenheim on a pig farm in Neuremberg. Fed up of being poor, as a student in Munich and not being able to afford anything, she fakes a stigmata and becomes well known as a healer. Beate goes on the run when she is proved to be a fraud- to London and ends up in Paris, with a new name, a profession and a new personality. Nobody in Dr.Wolf’s world are aware of her past- not even her boyfriend Jean-Pierre. That is, until the Lucans show up.
Despite the fact that Dr.Wolf’s crime is less brutal than Lucan’s crime, it seems much easier to like both the Lucans more than Dr.Wolf. The ever-supportive likeable boyfriend, Jean-Pierre, cuts a slightly pathetic figure.The two stories work well as parallels. This is an easy read - not gripping or thrilling as you might expect from a Muriel Spark.