The Temptress The scandalous life of Alice, Countess de Janzé

'Alice de Janze was the true soul of Happy Valley - beautiful, irresistible, adventurous, fatally stranded in a remote landscape. Spicer has brought an extraordinary character out of the shadows.' James Fox, author of White Mischief "In Paul Spicer the notorious American expatriate and radiant beauty Alice de Janze has finally met her match. Like Byron, she was "mad, bad and dangerous to know", one of those Pilgrim Daughters who traveled abroad and enriched the European aristocracy, becoming a social celebrity in Paris during the early 1920s. With the dedication and zest of a private detective, Paul Spicer pursues her into the ironically-named "Happy Valley" of equatorial East Africa where her melodramatic life ended in violence and tragedy. She appears like one of those extreme characters from the pages of Evelyn Waugh and Scott Fitzgerald. But, as Paul Spicer shows, truth is once again stranger than fiction." --Michael Holroyd, author of A Strange Eventful History 'Deliciously salacious' Vogue June issue 'Entertainingly told' The Spectator 15/05 'Any remake of the film White Mischief could no longer get away with featuring Alice de Janze as a bit-part player' Daily Mail 'A delicious story' Daily Telegraph 'A Bold Story' Sunday Times 'The author knows his business' Tatler June Issue 'Defective fiction meets biography to hypnotic effect' Easy Living June Issue 'The Temptress is a page-turner...a first-rate story' Mail on Sunday 30/5 'Paul Spicer's new book The Temptress reveals a new theory as to the true identity of Lord Erroll's murderer' Lady 8/6 'Defective fiction meets biography to hypnotic effect' Easy Living 'The Temptress is a page-turner ... a first-rate story' Mail on Sunday 'In Paul Spicer, the notorious American expatriate and radiant beauty Alice de Janze has finally met her match. Like Byron she was "mad, bad and dangerous to know", one of those Pilgrim Daughters who travelled abroad and enriched the European aristocracy, becoming a social celebrity in Paris during the early 1920s. With the dedication and zest of a private detective, Paul Spicer pursues her into the ironically named "Happy Valley" of equatorial East Africa, where her melodramatic life ended in violence and tragedy. She appears like one of those extreme characters from the pags of Evelyn Waugh and Scott Fitzgerald. But, as Paul Spicer shows, truth is agin stranger than fiction' Michael Holroyd 'Spicer's argument hinges on the claim to have new evidence: a confessional letter written by Alice, but he treats her as a sympathetic character inexplicably overlooked as a suspect rather than as the raging psycho she clearly was. This is a good, quick read, but it's hard to see how Alice could tempt anyone to do anything other than bolt in the opposite direction' The Sunday Times, 20/2