On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation.

It was an extraordinary news story.

The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny,

mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared.

One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for

Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex von

Tunselman. This is The Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello, it's good to be back and joined

today by two writers. Duncan Campbell was for many years crime correspondent and Los Angeles correspondent for The Guardian. His most recent books about crime include We'll All Be Murdered in Our Beds and Underworld the definitive history of Britain's organised crime. Duncan is also the author of two novels. With him is Mark Hodkinson,

a writer for The Times among other publications, whose non-fiction books include Blue Moon,

down among the dead men with Manchester City, and this year's No One Round Here reads Tolstoy.

Mark also owns a publishing house, Pomona books, and his Radio 4 programmes have included

so many books, so little time. Well, we've got just under half an hour and three books

to talk about, so Mark Hodkinson, would you start us off? What are you suggesting as a good read?

Well, when I first read this book, which is in my 20s, it was called A Ghost at Noon.

It's by an Italian writer called Alberto Moravia, and I've seen that it's now called Contempt.

And he's a writer that's had quite a few of the titles of his books changed over the years for various markets, I think.

Like I said, I read this book when I was 27,

and it's about a film scriptwriter called Ricardo Maltini.

And basically, the dissolution of his marriage

set against a backdrop of constant arguments and fallouts

with the director of a film that he's working on with

a fellow called Batista. But it's actually much more than that. It almost feels like that's the

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