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  • A Different Class of Murder

  • By: Laura Thompson
  • Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
  • Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (66 ratings)
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A Different Class of Murder

By: Laura Thompson
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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Summary

On 7 November 1974, a nanny named Sandra Rivett was bludgeoned to death in a Belgravia basement. A second woman, Veronica, Countess of Lucan, was also attacked. The man named in court as perpetrator of these crimes, Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, disappeared in the early hours of the following morning. The case, solved in the eyes of the law, has retained its fascination ever since.

Laura Thompson narrates the story that led up to that cataclysmic event and reexamines the possible truths behind one of postwar Britain’s most notorious murders.

©2015 Laura Thompson (P)2015 Oakhill Publishing

Critic reviews

"Gripping...an exceptionally thorough examination." (Daily Mail)
"Sensational...the most minutely researched and brilliantly told account ever." (Mail on Sunday)
"Tantalises with fresh evidence." (The Daily Telegraph)
"A compelling new examination of the crime and a brilliant detective mind...fascinating.... Thompson gives us a tantalising range of alternative scenarios in this superb anatomy of a murder." (Independent)
"This gripping read is part social history, part detective story...fascinating." (Bella)
"Thompson delivers the goods: a compelling narrative, hypotheses based on evidence and a possible solution. But she goes further, putting the murder in the telling context of British aristocracy and social attitudes towards it." (The Times)
"Thompson is a fine writer and one can't help admiring the way she breathes new life into an intriguing tale." (Literary Review)
"[Laura Thompson] gets her teeth into the case, drawing on Lucan's friends the Shand-Kydds, finding a new source in an anonymous Lucan schoolfriend, and finally producing a narrative which is sympathetic to Lucan, but less so to his wife." (Times Literary Supplement)
"Thompson re-examines a tantalizingly ambiguous crime, delving deep into a complicated story and emerging with a gripping narrative that offers a fresh perspective and new solutions to one of the most infamous cases of the 20th century." (Good Book Guide)

What listeners say about A Different Class of Murder

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Very repetitive

15 hours that could be cut in half. Very repetitive making it boring towards the end.

Narrator very well spoken but no need to change voice when quoting someone.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Sickening to listen to so much victim blaming

I tried to listen with an open mind, ready to hear a new perspective on a very well publicised crime; however, the often gleeful way in which the author derides the two women at the heart of the case, namely Lady Lucan and Sandra Rivett was distasteful. The author seeks to suggest that victim blaming is entirely appropriate in this case and that Lucan was just a good egg at heart really. In this age of more enlightenment on mental health and emotional abuse, it's astonishing that the author would not at least consider in a more sophisticated manner the dynamics at play in the Lucan household that culminated in the tragic events that occurred. Instead the author repeats ad nauseam a defence of the Clermont set. Very disappointing and quite offensive to domestic abuse survivors.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Attempted rehab doesn't work

A pathetic attempt to rehabilitate LL in the public consciousness which patently does not work. His numerous companions at the Claremont Club speak of his habitual conversations with them.... and telling anyone and everyone who would listen.... on the subject of doing away with his long suffering wife... over a lengthy period of time. He made her life hell.. he was a text book narcissistic psychopath.... and no mealy mouthed excuses proffered by this author can alter that. The they are so far off track as to be on another planet. If he's not responsible for poor Mrs. Rivet's death I'm a Martian. The narrator did a lack-lustre job.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Dull - and read ridiculously

There is very little about poor Sandra Rivett's murder. It's just waffle about the aristocracy read with odd glee by the narrator. Disappointing.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book that comprehensively re-examines a famous mystery

I first heard of the Lord Lucan story on the 20th anniversary of the murder of Sandra Rivett in 1994. This book gives a full and lengthy background to the case and could serve even as social history of the well off living in Belgravia and Mayfair in the early 70s. Piece by piece. Thompson pulls apart all the nonsense that has been said about Rivett's murder and Lucan's disappearance and instead puts a convincing, evidence based theory in its place

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

What made the experience of listening to A Different Class of Murder the most enjoyable?

The very different perspective it had on the usual story of events.

What does Anna Bentinck bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The book is very well-read and the voice is easy to listen to.

Any additional comments?

A really enthralling book!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant narration

A fascinating insight into the lives of a tiny louche upper class set that disdained the normative values and conduct of ordinary people in the middle years of the 20th century: a deep immersion into a brittle, glamorous world which, like so much else, the digital age has swept away.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT ......

What did you like best about A Different Class of Murder? What did you like least?

Excellent account of the class divisions still prevalent in the '70's; the crushingly empty lives led by the 'gilded few'; the menace and amorality of that class, especially Aspinall and Goldsmith but repetition abounds. Could easily have been reduced by half without losing any information. Worth it if you have the time ..... and yes, Lucan was responsible.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

A tale of the times was very interesting; the least? The great annoyance at knowing how much was frittered away by such vacuous creatures.

Did Anna Bentinck do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Author knew subject well but feel too much emphasis was put into how she depicted the differences in the society of the time. Strongly suspect she feels she would like to be considered part of the high society set, as she sees them.

Was A Different Class of Murder worth the listening time?

No.

Any additional comments?

EXCEPTIONALLY HARD TO GET INTO AS THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS WERE VERY GARBLED WITH NO COHERENT PLAN.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Really in depth book about Lord Lucan. I remember when it happened and am still fascinated by the story.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Far too long

A famous case with so many unanswered questions, I remember it very well.
It's not a bad book, just still leaves so many unanswered question and it will stay that way.
Characters invoke no sympathy, a ghastly set in the main, apart from the children and their mother.
Far too long, specially the first half listening to the lives of morons.

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