Review: The Butler Did It by Paul Pender

The blurb:

Roy Fontaine, also known as Archie Hall, was a butler to Britain's aristocracy, and a rumoured lover of Prince Charles' great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten. He was also a serial killer whose modus operandi was to gain the confidence of his wealthy employers before taking their jewels and then their lives.

The Butler Did It is the dark and strange story of an unusual friendship between screenwriter Paul Pender and Roy Fontaine, who considered Pender an ally and asked him to write his life story. In a chilling twist, Fontaine then threatened to kill Paul.

In The Butler Did It, Paul Pender reveals the secrets of Roy Fontaine's double life and describes his often terrifying, yet blackly humorous, encounters with a convicted serial killer.

My thoughts:

Hmm… How to describe this book? It's a blurred cross between true crime and a memoir – a fascinating look into the mind of a serial killer. Although I loved reading true crime as a teenager, it's not something I've picked up for ages, but I met Paul Pender at a recent writer's get together, and when he told me about this book, I knew I had to read it. Now a Hollywood screenwriter, Paul put off writing the story as he didn't want Fontaine to get the fame he craved while he was still alive. And the relationship between the two was an odd one – “One minute Roy would be telling me I was the son he never had, and the next he'd be threatening to kill me.”

The story is told mainly through a series of interviews, with Paul travelling from his home in Scotland to Full Sutton prison in Yorkshire to meet Roy, who named himself after his hero, Roy Rogers. Roy had been declared insane several times over, but despite that, he proved to be charming when he wanted to be, as well as extraordinarily gutsy and resourceful. If you like true crime, I'd definitely recommend this book – it's very well written and gives a curious insight in to the making of a madman, from his childhood in Scotland, through his early life as a suave conman, and finally to his murder spree at the end.