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 Tundselman.

This is The Lucan Obsession.

Listen on BBC Sounds.

Hello, today I'm joined by Joanna Scanlan, star on TV of The Larkins, Requiem, No Offence, and The Thick of It, among

much else, and whose most recent movie, After Love, has earned her both a British independent

film award and a BAFTA for Best Actress. With Joanna is journalist and author Sabine Durant,

whose twisty psychological thrillers include Lie With Me and coming out next month,

sun damage, about a con woman pretending to be a private chef in a French holiday villa.

Joanna Scanlon, would you start us off? What is your suggestion for a good read?

Well, my suggestion for a good read is Tom Wolfe's book of 1968, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

And when you very kindly invited me to join you in this programme, I thought immediately, let's go to my favourite book, the electric Kool-Aid

acid test, which I had not actually read for 20 years.

And as soon as I started again to read it, I felt, oh my goodness, I'm going to have to back track here.

This is a terrible decision.

And I realised it's because I think something's happened to my brain in that 20 years,

which isn't to do so much with reading and ageing,

...