Fri 13 Mar 2015
Mystery Review: PETER LOVESEY – Bertie and the Seven Bodies.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[6] Comments
PETER LOVESEY – Bertie and the Seven Bodies. Mysterious Press, US/UK, hardcover, 1990; paperback, US, 1991. Arrow, UK, paperback, 1991.
Bertie in this case refers to Edward VII (1841 – 1910), but with the story taking place in 1890, when he was still Prince of Wales, the heir apparent to his mother, Queen Victoria. It is Peter Lovesey’s delightful conceit that Bertie, as he was commonly known, besides being a notorious playboy and philanderer, fancied himself as detective of some merit, even though the results are usually far off the mark, and quite amusingly so.
A phase of his life, previously unrecorded, that continues the affair of the seven bodies, which takes place in an English manor where an array of English society has gathered for a weekend of shooting, perhaps the last of the season. But when the deaths start occurring, each tied to the day of the week, it is up to Bertie to solve the case before the police are called in. The scandal it would cause, you know, not to mention Bertie especially not wishing the story to reach the Queen’s non-approving ears.
So not only is the story comic and light in nature, except for the deaths, of course, but Lovesey also makes sure the mystery is well-clued as it could be. Bertie and company come up with any number of explanations, which an appropriate of who the killer might be, all of them very convincing, only to have some small detail not fit, with the whole house of cards falling only to need another to be built up again.
I hedged there at the beginning of the previous paragraph in my statement that the story is as well-clued as it could be. It is a minor tour de force for Lovesey to have constructed a tale with so many possible solutions, but the key to case is not discovered until page 209 of a 228 page book, and I challenge anyone to put the pieces of the plot together before then. But when everything falls into place as smoothly as it does here, all is forgiven.
Highly recommended.
The Albert Edward, Prince of Wales series —
Novels —
Bertie and the Tinman (1987).
Bertie and the Seven Bodies (1990).
Bertie and the Crime of Passion (1993).
Short stories (may be incomplete) —
Bertie and the Fire Brigade. Royal Crimes, Maxim Jakubowski & Martin H. Greenberg, editors, 1994.
Bertie and the Boat Race. Crime Through Time, Miriam Grace Monfredo & Sharan Newman, editors, 1997.
March 13th, 2015 at 9:48 pm
A fine
conceit and a favorite royal.
March 14th, 2015 at 6:15 pm
Poor Berite, despite the fact he proved a good king and almost prevented WWI by exerting his charm on the Kaiser and the Tzar, he gets no respect. Even Conan Doyle made him the kind of Bohemia, not England.
I enjoyed these, and hold Lovesey’s historical novels far and away his best work. I never did warm to the Peter Diamond books. I miss Lovesey’s wit, but its the wit of the historical novels.
March 14th, 2015 at 7:42 pm
David,
Had Bertie lived a little longer, well may be a lot longer, twentieth century history might very well have been changed for the better with a ripple effect for our current time. No WW1, likely not WW11 — and England still England on the world stage.
March 14th, 2015 at 8:17 pm
I have always thought that Bertie was a bit like Charles II, behind the playboy there was real wit and heart. Had he not come so late to the throne and for so short a time he might have rivaled Victoria.
March 15th, 2015 at 6:38 pm
According to the author’s website, there’s another Bertie story: ‘Bertie and the Christmas Tree’ published in The Strand Magazine Oct-Dec 2007. http://peterlovesey.com/short-stories
March 17th, 2015 at 8:43 pm
Thanks, Jamie. I don’t read The Strand Magazine, so I hadn’t heard about that one. Maybe all of the Bertie short stories will be collected someday.