Switzerland: Room Service in Lausanne

The plot might have been created by Henry James in collaboration with Tennessee Williams. The place: Lausanne.

The victim was Marjorie Winifred Bird, a rich, neurotic American widow who hoped that the U.S. would one day be come a monarchy so that she could be its queen. The accused were Nicolas Sturdza, a penniless Rumanian homo sexual who styled himself prince and claimed that he was descended from the Moldavian kings, and Dr. GĂ©rard Sa voy, a shady Lausanne psychiatrist who specialized in wealthy female patients and who, over the course of 18 months, prescribed for Mrs. Bird 18,970 barbiturate...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!