£20 (ebook £10.99)
THIS sensational true story involves a future British king and a murder at London’s Savoy Hotel during a violent thunderstorm in July 1923.
Andrew Rose, a former barrister turned author, has written a gripping book, enhanced by his elegant style and sharp eye for period detail.
The case involves the fiery Madame Fahmy, formerly Marguerite Alibert (1890-1971), and her multimillionaire young Egyptian husband, who was shot.
Marguerite was one of her country’s most notorious and successful courtesans. She moved at the highest level of society and was a wealthy woman.
During the First World War, the handsome young Prince of Wales, who later became Britain’s king for a year in 1936 before abdicating, had a fling with her.
This book describes in detail the Establishment’s successful behind-thescenes machinations to keep his former connections with Marguerite out of her lurid trial. To the surprise of many, she was acquitted of murder.
9/10
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