White Mischief [Hardcover]

James Fox (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 299 pages
• Publisher: Random House Inc (T); 1St Edition edition (March 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394509188
• ISBN-13: 978-0394509181
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > History > Africa > Kenya

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars White Mischief: The Murder Of Lord Erroll, April 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: White Mischief, The Murder of Lord Erroll (Paperback)

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.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A real-life mystery with all the intrique of Agatha Christie, February 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: White Mischief (Hardcover)

Fox does an outstanding job in researching the murder of Lord Erroll in compiling this book, which reads like an Agatha Christie mystery. The first half of the book looks at the actual murder of Lord Erroll in Kenya in 1941. This has all the elements of a good mystery -- money, luxury, pride, sex, jealousy, etc. The second half of the book is an intricate examination of the evidence and Fox's own investigation into the murder mystery. Although one might wonder while reading this how Fox will "solve" his mystery, he presents his material in such a way that will keep the reader turning pages.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing true story of decadence and murder in Kenya., July 18, 2000

By 

"iloveprovence" - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Mischief (Hardcover)

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.