A Bertie, Prince of Wales mystery

The eldest son of Queen Victoria, “Bertie” will one day be King Edward VII. For the moment, though, his primary responsibility is to enjoy himself, a task at which he excels— bedding society beauties, betting on sporting events, tormenting his long-suffering wife, and taking his royal bulk off to other people’s country estates, there to shoot things, eat enormous meals, and pinch the serving maids.

It is at just such an estate that the story unfolds, though this is no ordinary shooting-party: The glittering guest-list dwindles rapidly, as one member after another turns up dead. Bertie, however, greets the murders with a certain delight, as they allow him to exercise his passion for amateur sleuthing (a task at which he doesn’t particularly excel). Lovesey wrote Seven Bodies as an homage to Agatha Christie, but he laced his classically structured puzzle with his own sly wit, gleefully poking fun at the pomposities of privilege.

“No one is more fun than Bertie!”

– New York Times

“Seamlessly plotted, populated with a dynamic cast, and often howlingly funny”

– Cleveland Plain Dealer