Prices were way up, and Britain's economic forecasts were way down. In the drawing rooms of Mayfair and Belgravia, however, the smart set was talking about something considerably more interesting—a mysterious, brutal murder involving a titled family that might have come from a West End thriller.
The killing had occurred in the hallowed precincts of Belgravia itself. At 10:30 one night, the estranged wife of Lord Lucan, the great-great-grandson of the misguided commander who ordered the charge of the Light Brigade, burst through the door of the Plumbers' Arms, a pub near...