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 Fondanzlement.

This is The Lucan Obsession.

Listen on BBC Sounds.

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Hello.

Today on Open Book,

we're wrestling free from the grip of never-ending January

to embark on a pilgrimage to Prague.

Helen Oyayemi's new novel offers up a surreal love letter

to the city she's called home for the last decade

via a fantastical hen weekend like no other,

and a book within a book of mysteriously changing

stories of Prague's history. And as the city's most famous son, Franz Kafka once wrote,

Prague never lets go of you. This dear little mother has sharp claws. And so we stay there to discuss

the literary power of this captivating city and a new anthology of Czech writing revealing its myriad layers and histories.

But first we turn to Michael Cunningham and memories of recent winters

...