White Mischief

The main surprise of Lord Erroll's murder, shot in the head while sitting in his car was that anyone cared enough, was passionate enough to carry out the dastardly deed. Lord Erroll was involved with the former Diana Caldwell, Lady Broughton. They had not been discreet, and it was an activity he had been perfecting for years. You could safely say adultery was the rule, rather than an aberration. Lord Broughton was arrested, tried and found not guilty. The evidence was flimsy, Lord Broughton was a calm and credible witness, and there it ended. The question was if Broughton wasn't the murderer, who was? The first half of the book acquaints us with the players and the crime. The second half is the sleuthing that the author and the late Cyril Connelly did to solve the crime thirty years after the fact.

The book is interesting and moves at a good pace. I had to smile at the author's obvious enchantment with Lady Diana. He finally met her when she was in her late sixties, and her charm was as potent as ever. The story has "movie" written all over it, and a highly successful film was made in the early '80s. My problem with the book is I never could mind much about either the suspects or the victim. They were all equally unlikable, so solving the crime was not compelling. Mr. Fox has done a good job of marshalling the facts and digging out the clues. He has me convinced his conclusion is the right one. If I only cared, I would be more enthused.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer


Amazing true story of decadence and murder in Kenya.   July 18, 2000
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

James Fox takes the reader into the world of 1941's Happy Valley crowd of Nairobi, Kenya to explore the murder of of Jossyln Hay, Earl of Erroll. The Earl, better known as Joss, was a member of the upper-class enclave of English colonials living in Kenya at the time of WWII. A lady's man, Joss Hay, like many of the Happy Valley set, ignored the "rules" of society, and indulged himself with who ever caught his eye, married or not. He was found, on the morning of January 24, shot through the head, in a car near Happy Valley. This account of a true story, resurfaces all the decadence and indulgence that is a major force of history of Nairobi's colonial society. A suspect was brought to trial, but the case was never resolved. Mr. Fox, years later, examines the evidence of the trial, interviews survivors, and escorts the reader through the process of investigation to discover who really pulled the trigger and why. A riveting look at a pageantry of trash, this book reads like a superb mystery story.


White Mischief: The Murder Of Lord Erroll   April 21, 2003
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

This is a simply fascinating book for anyone interested in colonial Africa, murder mysteries and just plain good writing. The author James Fox, an erudite Eton graduate, does much more than simply describe the wild African setting, the fascinating murder involved and the absurdly decadent lifestyle of the characters involved. He also tracks the process of his research and the input of the quirky British author, Cyril Connelly who simultaneously studied the events at hand.

Fox uses the murder of man-about-town Lord Erroll as a backdrop to chronicle the deterioration of a British subculture in the early 1900's. While war was being waged in Europe, this group of moneyed and titled hedonists (who left their kiddies back home) lived a surrealistic life of partying, drinking, drugging and partner swapping. Such a detached lifestyle virtually requires a murder or two as a logical conclusion.

Although the accused, Lord "Jock" Delves Broughton, is aquitted in an African trial (with lots of perjury involved) Fox makes no secret of his opinion that Boughton was the culprit. That does not dampen the book one bit because it is the cast of characters and how they talk about each other that is the best part of the book. The only problem I had with Fox's ultimate theory is that he bases it upon an interview with an eccentric, elderly woman who was only 15 years old at the time of the crime. Although she claims the suspect confessed the crime to her immediately after its commission, she did not reveal that alleged fact to anyone until Fox interviewed her in the 1980's. As a legal professional, I find that kind of evidence inherently not credible. This woman had plenty of opportunity to reveal the alleged confession on many prior occasions and Fox's reasons for her failure to do so are a bit far-fetched.This slight criticism does not in any way demean the entire book however as the rest of Fox's research and conclusions based thereupon seem sound.

All in all, this is a fascinating book that is hard to put down. The peripheral characters such as Alice de Janze and Lord Soames are equally as intriguing as the main characters.


Aristocratic Decadence in Africa   December 23, 2004
Smallchief
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

If you ever had any royalist sentiment -- or harbored a feeling that British aristocrats are superior beings -- this book should cure you. The characters of "White Mischief" are about the most disgusting and useless bunch of parasites that can be imagined.

"White Mischief" is about a murder in colonial Kenya in 1941 and the people who were involved in the case. The murderee was Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Errol, and the accused murderer was Sir John Henry Delves Broughton. This book is an examination of the free and easy "Happy Valley" society that both belonged to, a recapitulation of the trial, and an examination of the evidence. The author's investigation, carried out over decades, includes interviews with people connected with the case, including the loathsome Diana, wife of the accused murderer and mistress of the murderee -- and a strong candidate among others to be the mastermind of the affair. (As this book, although non-fiction, is something of a murder mystery, I won't spoil it by revealing the author's conclusions as to who killed Lord Errol.)

It's a crackin' good story, set in the splendid "White Highlands" of Kenya. To me "White Mischief" is also a cautionary tale of what happens when a privileged minority is allowed to run wild.

Smallchief