The Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, or Bertie to his friends, is in Paris at the turn of the century. It is a city full of attractions, both high class and more, shall we say, bohemian. One of these is the actress Sarah Bernhardt, and when she tells Bertie about a murder on the dance floor – of the Moulin Rouge, no less – involving the family of one of Bertie’s many friends, then he sees the opportunity to once again to fulfil his ambitions of being a detective.

It doesn’t take long before M. Goron, the chief of the Sûreté have a suspect behind bars. A clear motive, a flawed alibi – it seems the case is closed. Bertie thinks differently – he thinks an innocent man is heading for the guillotine. But it has to be said, Bertie isn’t the finest detective in the land – or even in Paris – and his investigations may land him in far more trouble than he expects…

A brief aside to talk about Peter Lovesey, who passed away last week. I only met Peter once at the Alibis From The Archive conference. He kindly signed my first edition of The False Inspector Dew, and we had a brief chat – there were plenty of others vying for his attention. He gave a superb talk about James Corbett, an author that he loved basically because of what a terrible writer Corbett was. Having bought a few titles, I wholeheartedly agree. I chose to read this one as a tribute to Peter – it was a better option that reading a Corbett title, but I might well bite the bullet on that one too.

Peter wrote a few series – the Sergeant Cribb books, the Bertie books and, primarily, the Peter Diamond books – as well as some standalones and plenty of short stories. I’ve reviewed a number of them over the years and one of the stand-outs was Bertie And The Seven Bodies. So I thought it was way past time to look at the final Bertie book.

It’s another fun read, as we follow the overconfident Bertie, with Sarah Bernhardt in tow, as he investigates the murder, all the while as a police investigation takes a different direction at the same time. The reader has the job of deciding which, if either, of the sleuths is on the right track. Bertie, who narrates the tale, isn’t exactly an unreliable narrator, but he is someone who is certain of his own beliefs, even when someone, like Sarah, points out the huge holes in his theories.

Bertie’s narration is a lot of fun. Being a member of the English upper upper class (the uppest class?), he certainly has opinions on quite a lot of things (especially the French) despite having his own peccadillos. The background details, such as the food or the clothing, help bring things to vibrant life and there is a bundle of humour there too. Even if the final reveal isn’t exactly stunning, the way Lovesey frames it, along with the afternote, really makes this book a great read.

I’ll be revisiting Sergeant Cribb and Peter Diamond in the near future, but in the meantime, do  check out this and the other two Bertie books – Bertie And The Tinman and Bertie And The Seven Bodies. You won’t regret it.