Bertie, Prince of Wales, is in Paris en route for Cannes in the spring of 1891. One of the attractions of the city is the company of Sarah Bernhardt, and it is she who informs him that the prospective son-in-law of his old friend, Jules d'Agincourt, has been murdered at the Moulin Rouge.

Bertie and the Seven Bodies

by Peter Lovesey

Published 25 January 1990

The second book in the delightfully witty crime series set in late 19th century bohemian Paris, following the adventures of Bertie, Prince of Wales.

In 1890 twelve guests gather at Desborough Hall for a week's shooting party hosted by the beautiful Lady Amelia Hammond. Months of planning have left nothing to chance, for the main guests are the Prince and Princess of Wales. But events take a sinister turn when the vivacious Queenie Chimes collapses face down in the chef's lovingly created bombe-glacee. More deaths follow and clues planted on the bodies point shockingly to a final tally of seven, one for each day of the week. Bertie is compelled to investigate.


Bertie and the Tinman

by Peter Lovesey

Published 19 March 1989
Introducing Victorian England’s most illustrious amateur sleuth (if not necessarily its most adept): Bertie, Prince of Wales, who can’t help but poke his royal nose into a suspicious-sounding circumstance.

Bertie, Prince of Wales and future King Edward VII, is a charismatic but self-indulgent man who enjoys the finer things in life, including dining, flirting, and flitting from party to party with his entire thirty-person staff in tow. But the fun and games come to a tragic halt when Bertie hears the shocking news that his friend the legendary jockey Fred Archer, known as the Tinman, has taken his own life. Bertie has his doubts that it was in fact suicide, especially considering the Tinman's ominous final words: “Are they coming?” Bertie resolves to discover the truth, looking for new suspects and evidence on a quest that will take him through some of the most disreputable parts of London, much to the dismay of his mother, Queen Victoria.