Customer Reviews

Bertie and the Seven Bodies: A Victorian Mystery

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

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).

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.

This is a hilarious mystery as Prince Albert tries to prove his deductive abilities by finding the culprit who is committing serial murders paced on the Monday's Child rhyme. Of coure, his reasoning is usually way off and part of the fun is watching others deflate his ego with the correct explanation of his deductions. Nevertheless, Bertie shows a penchant for relying on royal privilege to get his way. A great comic historical mystery.