The Gamblers

(Paperback)

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Britain's foremost writer on crime turns to the disappearance of Lord Lucan. The basis of the upcoming ITV drama, Lucan, starring Rory Kinnear and Christopher Eccleston Britain's foremost writer on crime turns to the disappearance of Lord Lucan. The basis of the upcoming ITV drama, Lucan, starring Rory Kinnear and Christopher Eccleston For over thirty years, John Pearson has provided us with literary exposures of some of the most enigmatic people and underground organisations of our modern world. The Gamblers follows the fortunes of five men at the centre of the ultra-fashionable Clermont Set- the Clermont Club's eccentric founder John Aspinall; Dominic Elwes, who was to betray the Set's code of silence; the socialite owner of Annabel's, Mark Birley; the womanising, multi millionaire James Goldsmith; and the infamous Lord 'Lucky' Lucan. At the heart of the Set lay a belief that risk-takers are the people who make civilisation tick.Cruel, heartless and snobbish, they gambled with their fortunes and kept a stiff upper lip when they lost.This and a loyalty to each other that transcended everything else enabled them to rise above crises such as the long affair between Birley's wife and James Goldsmith, and the facial mutilation of the Birley's son by one of Aspinall's tigers.Pearson revels in the charisma, charm and wit of these dastardly but debonair millionaires, and reveals how their code led to one of the great unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.

Reviews

'a riveting portrait of the notorious Clermont set ... reads like a galloping Mayfair noir thriller' * Sunday Times *
'Pearson reveals the charisma, char and wit of these dastardly but debonair millionaires and shows how their code of extreme loyalty led to one of the great crimes of the 20th century remaining unsolved.' * Sunday Express *
Whether one buys this solution or not, the book has a repulsive fascination about it. Written in crisp, ironic style without moralising, it leaves you feeling as if you have been studying a fatal disease - gambling - which drives men to absurd lengths, grotesque behaviour and, usually, bad ends * Daily Mail *
Riveting book ... Pearson cleverly entices the reader into a whodunnit * Independent on Sunday *

Author Bio

John Pearson graduated from Peterhouse Cambridge with a double first in History, then worked on the Economist Intelligence Unit and as a BBC trainee producer before being offered a job by Ian Fleming as his assistant on the 'Atticus' column for the Sunday Times. Pearson is the author of- among others - the only authorised biography of Ian Fleming, as well as bestselling The Profession of Violence.He lives in West Sussex