Bertie And the Crime of Passion (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Prince Of Wales) [Paperback]

Peter Lovesey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2007 | Series: Prince Of Wales

Bertie (the future King Edward VII) has a princely appetite for tasty morsels of all kinds. With glorious food and glamorous women equally appealing, it's not surprising that he visits Paris every year, with a modest retinue of some 30 faithful servants. The year 1889, however, marks his most eventful trip. First, he is he introduced to the can-can - that deliciously vulgar new sensation in which he takes, of course, a purely scholarly interest. And second, a murder at a fashionable nightclub allows him to exercise his beloved sleuthing skills, poking the royal nose into showgirls' dressing rooms and all manner of backstage intrigues. With Sarah Bernhardt and Toulouse-Lautrec acting as a dual Dr. Watson, His Highness cannot fail to find a solution to the crime - though no bets as to whether it's the right one.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lovesey's third spirited mystery to feature Edward VII, Prince of Wales, as a dogged, often fatuous but ever-successful amateur sleuth (Bertie and the Tinman) finds the royal in Paris in 1891. There, Bertie is discreetly enjoying the City of Light's pleasures and his platonic meetings with reigning actress Sarah Bernhard, when Maurice Letissier, prospective son-in-law of Bertie's old friend Jules d'Agincourt, is shot dead at the Moulin Rouge. Present when the unseen gunman fired were Jules, his wife, his newly betrothed daughter and his younger son, all celebrating the engagement while, along with dozens of other patrons, they watched the frenzied dancing of the notorious La Goulue and her partner, Valentin. Bertie's detecting instincts are aroused, especially as he becomes aware of the victim's libertine ways and of his fiancee's involvement with Glyn Morgan, a penniless, 50-year-old painter. When the Surete arrest Morgan for the crime, Bertie, convinced of his innocence, is spurred to bolder explorations of the city's seamier aspects, producing at last a surprising confession. A lively evocation of fin-de-siecle Paris, a lightly ironic tone and some tidy plotting add up to another easy-to-take confection from this reliable British author.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This series title details the third adventure of Bertie (Bertie and the Seven Bodies, Mysterious Pr., 1990), the Prince of Wales in 1891. When a friend's soon-to-be son-in-law is murdered in the Moulin Rouge, Bertie-with the assistance of Sarah Bernhardt and Toulouse-Lautrec-uncovers clues to the murder.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 201 pages
• Publisher: Felony & Mayhem (April 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933397675
• ISBN-13: 978-1933397672
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,554,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

PETER LOVESEY is the author of the Peter Diamond mysteries, well known for their use of surprise, strong characters and hard-to-crack puzzles. He was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2000, the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, the Anthony, the Ellery Queen Readers' Award and is Grand Master of the Swedish Academy of Detection. He has been a full-time author since 1975, and was formerly in further education. Earlier series include the Sergeant Cribb mysteries seen on TV and the Bertie, Prince of Wales novels. The Diamond novels, set in Bath, England, where Peter lived for some years, feature a burly, warm-hearted, but no-nonsense police detective whose personal life becomes as engaging to the reader as the intricate mysteries he solves. His team in Bath CID includes the ex-journo Ingeborg Smith, the long-serving Keith Halliwell and the meticulous John Leaman, all involved in what is essentially a fair-play procedural mystery series. Peter and his wife Jax, who co-scripted the TV series, have a son, Phil, also a teacher and mystery writer, and a daughter Kathy, who was a Vice-President of J.P.Morgan-Chase, and now lives with her family in Greenwich, Ct. Peter currently lives in Chichester, England. His website at www.peterlovesey.com gives fuller details of his life and books. "Try him. You'll love him," wrote the doyen of the mystery world, Otto Penzler, in the New York Sun.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 3rd & best so far in series, March 4, 2009

By 

Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bertie & the Crime of Passion (Paperback)

This is the 3rd in Lovesey's Victorian series featuring the Prince of Wales as an amateur sleuth. The first was: Bertie and the Tinman, the 2nd: Bertie and the Seven Bodies. This 3rd effort is by far the best of the three. The mystery is more interesting & more central than the class biases, silliness, & ego-centric nature of the main character--he's even a bit more likable here. In addition, Lovesey adds the remarkable Sarah Bernhardt as a main character--& foil to Bertie--who is still an adolescent (psychologically). The repartee between the two makes the book IMHO. That and the fact that (though all 3 are probably meant in jest--as humorous mysteries) there is much more humor in this book than in the prior 2. The ending is delightful (except for the obvious dark element of the murderer's last activity). However, if you enjoy humorous mysteries, I'd suggest reading Lawrence Block's Bernie the Burglar series (e.g. The Burglar on the Prowl (Block, Lawrence)), his Tanner pseudo-spy series (Tanner's Twelve Swingers (Evan Tanner Mystery Series, 3)) or his somewhat raunchy but hilarious Ronald Rabbit Is a Dirty Old Man. Also try Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series (e.g. Put a Lid on it) & his delightful Trust Me on This & its sequel: Baby, Would I Lie? First Edition Signed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An exciting mystery series., September 14, 2009

By 

Lloyd G. Kay (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bertie And the Crime of Passion (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Prince Of Wales) (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed the books in this series I have read.
I love learning about the times in England when these stories are set, and love the idea of a royal as a detective.