Love Until Death: The twisted true story of killer conman Alexandre Despallières Paperback – 27 Jun. 2024

What an amazing true story and is written so brilliantly by the author. This book must be made into a movie.

Couldn’t put it down. Was hard to believe he managed to fool so many people.

Fast paced and a great read. Amazing how many people he fooled. How did he spend so much time with this psycho?

If thriller writer Patricia Highsmith was still alive this true story of a man who probably murdered his husband, and possibly his own parents, would have made tremendous background material for a sequel to The Talented Mr Ripley. In this book, published just before his death this summer, author Chris Hutchins became a sort of pen friend of the extremely beautiful Alexandre Despallieres, who inveigled himself into the gay circle who managed some of Britain's top rock talent. That Despallieres died of AIDS while awaiting trial in France for the murder of his husband seems almost to neat an ending for a character who throughout his life boasted of a wealth that never existed. At no point in this story do we ever learn of anything he ever did by way of a job because his gift was that he could convince wealthy friends to lend him money that he never intended to repay. He is an appalling character whose lies about himself can be seen through from the very first page, yet so many rich men, beguiled by his looks and charm, fell for him. Horrible though he was, this story would make a terrific TV crime serial.

This is one of the most amazing stories you will ever read - and it isn't fiction. Brilliantly written by the late Chris Hutchins, who knew nearly everyone in the music world, it's about the mysterious death of Peter Ikin, a senior music executive. He was almost certainly murdered by Alexandre Despallieres, a cunning playboy who conned numerous men and women. Despallieres was also suspected of murdering his own wealthy parents. I binge-read this book in a day and a half. I can't praise it enough and I just hope someone makes a film based on this incredible tale.

Really enjoyable read, how did so many people fall for him?