Geli (Angela) Raubal was the daughter of Hitler's half-sister Angela, and her relationship with her demonic uncle has been a source of unending speculation and gossip. Almost certainly she became his mistress, or "housekeeper", as his followers euphemistically put it, but their relations were stormy and stressful, until in 1931 Geli, aged only 23, was found dead in the Munich flat she shared with Hitler. His revolver lay beside her, and there was an unfinished letter on her table. Though Hitler had not yet come to power, the Nazis were greatly (and rightly) feared, so that there was no adequate inquiry or even a proper, detailed inquest, and her death was put down to suicide. There are indications, however, that he may have shot her accidentally in a struggle or, alternatively, may have killed her in a fit of maniacal rage. The story is both absorbing and depressingly seamy, and though Ronald Hayman appears to have sifted the evidence well, in the end he has to fall back heavily on speculation and rumour. B.F.