Bertie and the Seven Bodies [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Peter Lovesey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1990

Following "Bertie and the Tinman", this is the second novel to feature Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, in a crime entertainment. Peter Lovesey has written many crime novels including "Waxwork" which won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award in 1978 and "The False Inspector".

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When a killer stalks a dinner-and-gameshooting party on an English country estate, the corpses drop like pheasants. High-living Albert Edward ("Bertie"), Prince of Wales, who made his detective debut in Lovesey's Bertie and the Tinman , is the fumbling sleuth and rakish narrator, loosely modeled on the real-life prince who became King Edward VII. Bertie discovers that the nursery rhyme "Monday's child is fair of face . . . " holds the key; each line of the poem points to the next victim. Among the dwindling group of party guests, one of whom is the murderer, are an Amazon explorer, a stuttering poet and a scheming actress. Half the fun of this romp lies in watching Bertie invent, then discard, one theory after another; for a while his suspicions even fall on the widowed hostess he wants to bed. The other half comes from Lovesey's light mockery of Victorian manners and sexual mores in a bright, entertaining tale whose bantering tone conceals artful plotting.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“An utterly charming series . . . what a delight!” – New York Times Book Review --New York Times Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560540389
• ISBN-13: 978-1560540380
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,489,863 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

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, July 3, 2010

By 

Natalie Douglas - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bertie and the 7 Bodies (Mass Market Paperback)

Well written Edwardian/Victorian mystery. If you're a fan of the time period and/or the genre, you'll definitely enjoy it!

2.0 out of 5 stars Pseudo Sleuth, February 26, 2009

By 

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

This review is from: Bertie and the Seven Bodies: A Victorian Mystery (Hardcover)

This is the sequel to Bertie and the Tinman, 2nd in Lovesey's Prince of Wales mysteries--followed by Bertie And the Crime of Passion (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries) (Prince of Wales Mystery) (which I will read soon). This book has the same quality of ego in it but tends, IMHO, to play up the class differences more than the prior volume in the series. It is obviously more important to Bertie to be a sleuth & to protect his family name than to protect the lives of his "friends" or to obey the law. If you enjoy watching an egotist spout foolishness, this book's for you. Humor is, after all, in the ear of the beholder. This book builds on Christie's AGATHA CHRISTIE'S TEN LITTLE INDIANS theme (as do several other works). The characters are different but one hardly gets to know them.

Overall, I like Lovesey's books, esp. some of his lesser known ones & ones with interesting characters like Hen Mallin & Ingeborg Smith (e.g. The House Sitter). Of course, you can enjoy Lovesey's Bertie series as humorous mysteries; if so, I'd recommend his hilarious (& IMHO best) Keystone (Black Dagger Crime).

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Worst Lovesey Book I've read, February 15, 2003

By 

Alexander Madorsky (Shaker Heights, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bertie and the Seven Bodies (Hardcover)

Pretty absurd plot. Lovesey is generally a brilliant author, but this novel is tiresome and implausible. Although the Bertie series is not his best, other stories in this series are far better. Unless you have an overwhelming interest in the parlor games played by Victorian royalty, stay away.