The air of mythology surrounding Erroll's death intensified with the publication of James Fox's White Mischief in the early 1980s. This best-selling book, later turned into a hugely successful film, depicted the Happy Valley set as a glamorous yet debauched and adulterous group of people. It also implied that Delves Broughton was a jealous cuckold who was relieved of the charge of Erroll's murder simply because of his position in society. Errol Trzebinski, while making respectful allusion to Fox's work, acknowledging it as "a classic detective story", makes the salutary point that "the Wanjohi Valley settlers were not best pleased with the light in which the book portrayed their forebears". Her own piece of detection, The Life & Death of Lord Erroll, aims to set the record straight as a fresh investigative account of the Erroll murder. Trzebinski, biographer of such Kenya stalwarts as Denys Finch Hatton and Beryl Markham, is herself a resident of the country: "for six years my family and I lived where the scandal still thrived in people's memories". With access to the surviving friends and relatives of Erroll and others involved in the case, Trzebinski has, with forensic thoroughness pieced together neglected clues, to claim that the stories of high living among the Happy Valley set were a cover-up for a more serious political motive for Erroll's killing. Trzebinski outlines evidence that Erroll's murder was possibly an SOE execution, undertaken during the heightened atmosphere of World War Two to dispose of a man apparently closely connected to the British Fascist movement.

Whatever the truth behind the death of Lord Erroll, Trzebinski's research is exhaustive and the result makes for highly interesting reading. Though she aims to set the record straight about Happy Valley, the fascination for this set of people and "the darker side of exuberant living" looks certain to endure. As Trzebinski writes:"Despite the reams of material about Lord Erroll's murder, the elementary question still begs to be answered: whodunnit?" --Catherine Taylor

As with other murders e.g President Kennedy, the conspiracy theory is easy to subjecture about but difficult to prove in such a way to make it truly believable. If indeed what Ms Trebinski writes is true then this book has uncovered a sensational story. However the idea that it was part of a Government conspiracy is hard to swallow. In 1941 there were far more pressing issues such as defending Great Britain, than ensuring the security of a distant colony.

What was so nice about this biography was it dispelled all the myths that surround the happy valley set and reveals a man of exceptional qualities. As with all geniuses though they tend to have a weakness and in the case of Erroll his weakness was the pursuit of women. This fact has tended to cloud sympathies towards the man with many people believing that he got what he deserved. Trzebinski gives sound evidence to the fact that Erroll was not just a womanising playboy figure, but that he was a figurehead for Kenyan society who cared deeply about the future of a country that he adored.

The first part of novel gives you details that White Mischief does not and for Erroll murder fanatics this is a must read book. The author is also successful in keeping the mystery of the murder and the mysticism of the time alive. What draws one to this amazing story is the fact that it is still an unsolved murder and the book does not ruin one's wonderment of what really happened on the Ngong road at 3pm, Friday 24th January 1941.


A n exciting yet plausible solution to the historical crime   December 7, 2000
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a brilliant book - especially exciting if you are familiar with James Fox's earlier explanation of Lord Errol's murder. Trzebinski's explanation, however, is much more plausible, taking into consideration historical events and the highly charged political climate of the time. The right-wing involvement makes a lot of sense, only occasionally does it sound just like an almost too perfect spy story, with beautiful yet ruthless female assassins. Still - an absolute must-read!


Excellent research smothered by detail   September 28, 2000
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Several years ago, I listened to James Fox's "White Mischief" on audio tape. Neil Hunt's narration was hysterically funny and "White Mischief' quickly became one of my favorite books. After a while, however, I realized that Fox's explanation for the murder of Josslyn Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll, made little sense. Still,the murder of Lord Erroll had all the elements of a bestselling thriller--sex, snobbery and espionage. There is slight wonder why the mystery captured the imagination of the world.

According to Fox, Lord Erroll was murdered by Sir Jock Delves Broughton, the cuckolded husband of Erroll's most recent mistress. Other than a striking coincidence involving black powder bullets and a confession that Broughton made to a 15-year-old girl, that story did not seem credible. Broughton's actions after the murder were especially odd. Even stranger was the atmosphere of fear present 40 years after the event. Characters as disparate as an old native servant and a Nairobi attorney became afraid of even appearing to cooperate with Fox.

In "The Life and Death of Lord Erroll" Errol Trzebinski proposes a much more likely scenario. According to her account, Hay was a loose cannon at a dangerous time--the outbreak of World War II-- and was assassinated by agents of the British government.

One of the weaknesses of this book is that Trzebinski assumes readers know and understand the position of Great Britain, as well as its dominions, in 1940. Although some background is given, it is not enough. She does make it clear that the Italian army was on the northern border of Kenya. The settlers were already alienated from Whitehall. And although Trzebinski does not state this explicitly, it appears that both the appeasers and the pro-war factions in London were willing to sacrifice territory in East Africa (in one way or another) in order to increase the security of the British Isles.

Lord Erroll had already shown fearlessness and oratorical skill in defense of the Kenya colony, if not always a sense of timing and good judgment. If London was considering betrayal of the Kenya settlers,Erroll would have been a formidable opponent.

Trzebinski is in much the same position as the chroniclers of the Kennedy assassination. Most of the evidence concerning the murder of Lord Erroll is indirect, fragmented, conflicting, or simply missing. Unfortunately, in presenting the detail necessary to give credence to her hypothesis, the book often bogs down. Chronology is confusing. Implications are sketched lightly if at all. The big picture is lost. Too often, Trzebinski spends time detailing red herrings. Sometimes what she describes is not even an entire herring. Sometimes it's just a little piece of crimson fin .

Nevertheless,this book is worth reading. I hope that a future author will put Trzebinski's research on Lord Erroll in a better context. Those of us who are not familiar with the details of British politics at the beginning of World War II cannot understand (or learn from) the forces that converged on a dark road outside of Nairobi on a rainy January morning in 1941.