Caroline Blackwood's investigation into the last years of the bedridden octogenarian Duchess of Windsor—whose fragile existence was fiercely controlled by Suzanne Blum, her belligerent octogenarian lawyer—is a tale as bizarre as it is poignant. Asked in 1980 by The Sunday Times of London to write an article about the divorced American woman for whom Edward VIII renounced the throne in 1936, Miss Blackwood interviewed several dowagers—Lady Diana Cooper and Lady Diana Mosley, among others—who had hobnobbed with the Duchess. Their gossipy reminiscences about "poor Wallis," including some titillating anecdotes about Jimmy Donahue, the Woolworth heir with whom the Duchess was infatuated, are colorful and amusing. Miss Blackwood's biographical account of the Duchess's pre-Windsor years is also absorbing. However, The Last of the Duchess sorely disappoints by never answering the cardinal question: How did the Duchess of Windsor spend her final years, before her death in 1986 at the age of 89? The book is heavy on speculation and hearsay but weak on facts. Central to the story is Blum, whom the author portrays as a vengeful, paranoid battle-ax with an obsessional attachment to her client. Although Miss Blackwood, whose novels include The Stepdaughter and Great Granny Webster, suspects her of having exploited the enfeebled Duchess, she nevertheless wrote a fawning profile of Blum for The Sunday Times. (Miss Blackwood postponed the publication of her book until the notoriously litigious lawyer died last year.) The author finally inveigles her way into the Duchess's Bois de Boulogne mansion, but is stopped by the butler at the doorway. One needs a more seasoned reporter to break through the labyrinth.