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.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

They were all at Charing Cross to see Lillia off.

Philip, Harriet, Irma, Mrs. Herriton herself.

Even Mrs. Theobald, squired by Mr. Kingcroft, had braved the journey from Yorkshire

to bid her only daughter goodbye.

And the sight of so many people talking at once and saying such different things

caused Lillia sprawling out of her first-class carriage to break into ungovernable peals of laughter.

The excitement of train travel there from the Radio 4 adaptation of E.M. Forsters where Angels Fear to Tread.

And today we're all aboard for a discussion about why

trains continue to provide such rich inspiration for writers. And we also don our lab coats to

discover the science of storytelling. But we start with a journey of a different kind. In Elizabeth

Strout's latest novel, O'William,

the newly widowed protagonist, Lucy Barton, embarks on a road trip with her first husband

...