Bertie and the Seven Bodies

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, likes nothing better than to be invited to a stately home for some hunting of game and chasing of dames. But when the members of the shooting party at Desborough House start dropping like pheasants, Bertie turns detective to unmask the murderer.

I enjoyed the first book in the series, but this one, while fast-paced, grated on me because of Bertie as a character. I found his pomposity and side remarks amusing, but only up to a point. His philandering, and his encouragement of philandering in others, became very tiresome, very quickly. I’d much rather have seen his wife, Princess Alexandra (Alix), solve the mystery.

Seems like about every other historical mystery these days features a “celebrity detective”: everyone from Sir Isaac Newton to Edgar Allen Poe has been reincarnated as crime solvers. This time it’s Queen Victoria’s eldest son, “Bertie the Bounder,” that well-known jack-about-town and womanizer. But Bertie’s got one thing going for him that the other “seconded” historical figures don’t have: Peter Lovesey as his ghostwriter. I’ve long admired Lovesey’s ability to combine sly plotting with a dry, ironic wit.

Lovesey’s first sound decision is letting Bertie tell the tale in first person – much of the charm of the story is enjoying Bertie’s splendid lack of self-awareness. Lovesey’s second sound decision is show more deciding to turn the story into an homage to Agatha Christie, stranding all his characters at a shooting party on a posh estate (a la Murder on the Orient Express, Ten Little Indians, etc.) then killing them off one by one in accordance with the stanzas of a nursery rhyme (a la Pocket Full of Rye, One Two Buckle My Shoe, etc.). All this he tops off with a sly dose of social irony (in the form of a self-effacing police officer – think Sgt Cribb – and Bertie’s wry, perceptive wife) and a denoument that is satisfyingly clever.

The result: a light but satisfying mystery story that fulfills all the requirements of the genre, and does so with more cleverness and wit than some of other examples I could name. show less

The second book in this two book series, it did not disappoint.

Once again the Prince of Wales is on the scene of a murder and takes up the investigation to solve the case.

Accepting an invitation for a shooting party at Desborough, the county estate of Lady Amelia Drummond, Bertie is looking forward to an enjoyable time of shooting, good food, games and more, with interesting people.

It starts out fine, but during the first dinner party one of the guests falls face first into the dessert. She is rushed to a nearby doctor but dies on the way.

Rather than cancel the rest of the event, the group carries on. Cancelling and having the Prince of Wales return home could reveal the death and create a scandal. Something the Queen (Victoria) would show more greatly disapprove of.

Bertie isn’t the best of sleuths and keeps trying. Some of his solutions are a bit in left field, but he is determined to find the killer.

Meanwhile, a few more guests wind up dead. Can Bertie find the murder before everyone is dead?

A fun read with humour and a persistent detective. show less

I have mixed feeling about this series in which the detective is Bertie aka Albert Prince of Wales later King Edward VII. On the one hand, the period background is very well done (Lovesey has done a previous set of Victorian mysteries in which the detectives are normal policemen). and the writing (supposedly by Bertie himself) hits off his character --lecherous, gluttonous, egotistical,but at the sane time having a certain instinct for doing his duty --well, in a way reminiscent of Flashman. On the other hand,. Bertie's inept attempts at Holmesian-style deduction usually go awry, though his status prevents them from being as humiliating as they would be for someone else, still the feeling is uncomfortable. I prefer my detectives more show more brilliant then bumbling.This story involves a classic aristocratic household shooting party at which Bertie is the guest of honor and the other guests start dying off. show less

[Bertie and the Seven Bodies] is the second in a short series featuring Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, as the investigator. 'Bertie' and his wife attend an autumn house party where shooting is to be the main attraction. At dinner on the first night one of the guests, an actress, ends up face down in her dessert, apparently poisoned and a small bit of newsprint is found at her place containing the word Monday. Other deaths follow and seem to go according to the nursey rhyme that starts with "Monday's child is fair of face".

Bertie makes a somewhat bumbling detective and the party never does call in the police other than the Prince's bodyguard who has little experience detecting. However, things do eventually become clear and the culprit show more is caught. This story reminded me at times of [And Then There Were None] and [The ABC Murders] but I prefer Christie.

A somewhat pleasant entertainment but I won't be looking for the remaining novels in this series. However, those who can't get enough of Victorian mysteries may like it. show less

Utterly implausible but fun homage to Agatha Christie. Effective--I didn't guess who the sleeper was.

very funny and a good plot. fooled me mostly. i had the why and how but not who.