White Mischief, James Fox
White Mischief, James Fox
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

White Mischief
The Murder of Lord Erroll

Author: James Fox

Narrator: Dennis Kleinman

Unabridged: 11 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/05/2023


Synopsis

The riveting true story of decadence, deception, and murder among British aristocrats in colonial Kenya

In 1941, with London burning in the Blitz, a group of hedonistic English nobles partied shamelessly in Kenya. Far removed from falling bombs, the wealthy elites of "Happy Valley" indulged in morphine, alcohol, and unrestricted sex, often with their friends' spouses. But the party turned sinister in the early hours of a January morning for Josslyn Hay, Lord Erroll, who had been enjoying the favors of the beautiful young wife of a middle-aged neighbor. Hay was found dead, a bullet in his brain. The murder shocked the close-knit community of wealthy expatriates in Nairobi and shined a harsh light on their louche lifestyle.

Three decades later, author James Fox researched the slaying of Lord Erroll, an unsolved crime still sheathed in a thick cloud of rumor and innuendo. What he discovered was both unsettling and luridly compelling. White Mischief is a spellbinding true-crime classic, a tale of privileged excess and the wages of sin, and an account of one writer's determined effort to crack a cold and craven killing.

Contains mature themes.

About James Fox

James Fox was born in Washington, DC, in 1945 and educated in England. In addition to the international bestseller White Mischief, he is the author of The Langhorne Sisters and coauthor of Life, Keith Richards's autobiography. Fox lives in London with his wife and sons.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Katherine on October 21, 2017

All English country house mysteries are really set in Kenya between WWI & WWII. It is exactly that bonkers hot-house atmosphere where no affectation is too extreme, no level of snobbery too great. Everybody knows everybody else; life revolves around the club; servants are silent and self-effacing an......more

Goodreads review by Doug on May 28, 2022

3.5, rounded up. True confession - I have probably watched the 1987 film adaptation of this non-fiction tome more than any other film (see trailer at link attached below); there is just something I find fascinating in it - so it's high time I finally got around to the book. It's a quick and intriguin......more

Goodreads review by Stef on June 08, 2019

I was going to give it 3 stars for all that this book dragged and dragged giving details about people so awful it was impossible to care much about them. So many of them were sadistic, superior, classist, racist, sexist, selfish and not particularly intelligent. Perhaps virtue is not very interestin......more

Goodreads review by Jan C on June 22, 2017

Of course, if it hadn't been for James Fox I might not have known anything about the Lord Erroll murder of January 1940 in Happy Valley, Kenya. First I read the article some years ago in Vanity Fair. Then there was the movie. And then, again, some years ago I picked up this book. Of course, it did t......more

Goodreads review by David on May 23, 2017

Rich people seem to fall in love a lot in the twentieth century. Can you imagine having sex with quite so many of your friends? Weird. But "White Mischief" is far too long. Essentially, there's no mystery at all. The whole thing is a waste of everyone's time. I liked the term "public schooliganism", h......more