Aiding and Abetting: A Novel

By Muriel Spark

In Aiding and Abetting, the doyenne of literary satire has written a wickedly amusing and subversive novel around the true-crime case of one of England’s most notorious uppercrust scoundrels and the “aiders and abetters” who kept him on the loose.

When Lord Lucan walks into psychiatrist Hildegard Wolf’s Paris office, there is one problem: she already has a patient who says he’s Lucan, the fugitive murderer who bludgeoned his children’s nanny in a botched attempt to kill his wife. As Dr. Wolf sets about deciding which of her patients, if either, is the real Lucan, she finds herself in a fierce battle of wills and an exciting chase across Europe. For someone is deceiving someone, and it may be the good doctor, who, despite her unorthodox therapeutic method (she talks mainly about her own life), has a sinister past, too.
Exhibiting Muriel Spark’s boundless imagination and biting wit, Aiding and Abetting is a brisk, clever, and deliciously entertaining tale by one of Britain’s greatest living novelists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 31, 2001
• ISBN: 9780385503648

Muriel Spark

Muriel Spark (1918–2006) was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film. Spark became a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. 

Reviews for Aiding and Abetting

[jonfaith · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If one wished, Aiding and Abetting could be regarded as a slight whimsy. The novel could also be regarded as parlor game for deception and dark humor. We meet three charatcrs, two of whom are frauds and the third a muderer, albeit an aristocrat. This situation is pondered and then two other characters are inroduced with a shared purpose of locating the murderer. A tissue of circumstances unfold and the novel ends.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anything but predictable, Spark chooses this novel to try out her own peculiar slant on "true crime". A man walks into the consulting room of a fashionable Paris psychotherapist and tells her that he is the 7th Earl of Lucan, on the run from the police for more than 25 years. A disturbing statement at the best of times, more so in this case, as Dr Wolf is already treating another patient who makes the same claim, and furthermore she appears to have something to hide herself...Spark has fun playing around with the idea of what it would be like to spend such a large part of your life as a fugitive, and with such a nasty crime on your conscience (if indeed you have a conscience). And she enjoys hypothesising about how (and why) Lucan's friends could have protected him for so long. Interestingly, she has her imagined Lucan reflect that his fellow-peers mostly failed to exhibit class solidarity, and that it is his gambling pals who have been financing his undercover lifestyle. She resists the temptation to romanticise Lucan himself, though: he comes across as an arrogant, selfish bore. And he gets treated to a suitably Sparkish ending, too.

[randymetcalfe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What is Muriel Spark doing in this novel? On the surface it appears to be a fictional account of the real-life absconder, Lord Lucan, the infamous British murderer. Here he is living in Paris with a near-double. Both of them have sought the help of a psychiatrist. Though it quickly emerges that they’ve sought her aid with the aim of blackmail since she is herself an absconder, having run a fraudulent stigmata-based cure-all. Blood, certainly, abounds. And everyone is either aiding or abetting or positively chasing but without a real desire to capture. If it wasn’t so absurdly odd and funny, it would be just odd. Of course, since this is Muriel Spark, it is entirely possible that it is far, far cleverer than I’ve comprehended. And possibly even funnier.It seems impossible not to recommend this novel even if I remain utterly bemused by it.

[ttaisi5editor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great story, told in Spark’s classic, spare style.

[valerieandbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel is based on the 1974 real-life murder of Lord Lucan's nanny and Lucan's disappearance shortly thereafter. Much speculation has ensued over what his actual final fate was, and whether he was the murderer or not. Author Muriel Spark imagines him reappearing 25 years later (after his disappearance) at the doorstep of a psychiatrist with a secret past. This is a whirlwind of a novel. Even though Spark‘s introduction to Aiding and Abetting stated that the book is based on "Lord 'Lucky' Lucan", I thought at first it was a fake intro with imaginary characters, if that makes sense. But being American (and also being a child in 1974), I guess I missed the news back in the day. About halfway through this novel, something -- I don't recall what exactly -- made me consult "google" and I ended up falling into a rabbit hole learning about this real life mystery. That made me more appreciative of Spark's take on the mysterious case of Lord Lucan.

[mizpurplest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Delightfully witty and deliciously wicked, this was a fast, fun summer read.

[gbelik_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Two persons come into psychiatrist Hildegard Wolf's office, claiming to to Lord Lucan, who, 25 years earlier, murdered his children's nanny while attempting to kill his wife. Which is the real Lord Lucan and what should she do about it? It all left me rather flat.

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Who's scamming whom, and which preposterous imposter is a killer, and who will find the real fugitive Earl of Lucan (or is he dead?) and who is more afraid of having the past revealed--the hunter or the hunted? Farcical, bloody and blackly humorous. Not, however laugh-out-loud funny, at least in my opinion, as promised by some reviewers.

[crunky_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A competent diversion with some understated humor. The third Spark book I've read, but if it had been the first I wouldn't have rushed to pick up a second.

[kasthu_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Aiding and Abetting is based on a true story, but embellished upon by Muriel Spark. Lord (“Lucky” due to his successes at the gambling tables) Lucan disappeared from England in 1974 after bludgeoning his children’s nanny, intending for it to be his wife. Officially declared dead in 1999, this novel is a “what if?” about what happened. The story revolves around a psychotherapist, Hildegard Wolfe, who has a sinister past. One day two patients walk into her office declaring that he is the real Lord Lucan. Which one is which?As with many of Muriel Spark novels, nothing is what it seems on the surface. It seems at first to be a case of mistaken or hidden identity, but the story evolves into much more than that. This is a pretty bizarre story, filled with farcical coincidences. All of them were “aiders and abetters” who apparently sought to confuse and befuddle the police. Added on top of this is an author looking to write Lord Lucan’s story and publish an exclusive interview with him. It’s interesting that Spark theorizes details of the case that were later verified or speculated upon—such as Lord Lucan having received plastic surgery after the murders. Everyone keeps seeing Lucan everywhere, “but it may not have been him.”It’s an interesting case, and it’s fun to wonder about what really did happen to the missing Earl. Spark’s tale is purely fantasy, of course, though she sticks with many of the details of the case. In fact, she probably got the idea for the two Lord Lucans from the account of a close friend of Lucans, who saw him in Africa in the 1980s. According to the friend, he saw Lucan standing on a bridge and was later joined by a friend who claimed that he too was Lord Lucan. There are been over 70 “sightings” of him all over the world; in February 2012, new evidence came to light to support the claim that he was in Africa. The question remains, though: is Lucan really dead? By now I think so.

[sirroger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Delightfully wicked humor: classic Spark. Fictional literary treatment of two legendary criminals, a fraud and a murderer, who really existed and somehow disappeared.

[agirlandherbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A spare and enjoyable imaginary romp through what may have happened to Lucky Lucan, a British aristocrat on the lam since 1974. Dame Spark was economical with her use of words, which should serve as an example to other authors (I'm talking to you, Marisha Pessl).

[damemuriel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So, this is not her best book. Let's just go ahead and lay that on the table. But even her worst books are at least 90% (possibly more) better than most of the other books published at the time of the publication of this book. Has this ever been filmed? It should be. But not by Martin Scorsese or someone lame like that. I don't know who. But not him.