Books by Bernard Bastable

The Mr Mozart of Bernard Bastable's Dead, Mr Mozart was a German child prodigy who stayed on in England after his visit of 1764, cursing the luck that made him a despised hack in a foreign country, instead of being cherished and honoured in his native Austria. Then he found himself involved, willy-nilly, in the sordid business of George IV's divorce from Queen Caroline. Now, in 1830, with Wolfgang Gottlieb (he prefers the German form of his name) Mozart still remarkably spry for his age, it seems things are looking up: he is asked to give piano lessons to the young Princess Victoria. He is less sure of his good fortune, however, when the princess, during her first lesson, makes a most unusual demand of him. And things go from bad to dangerous when she becomes Heir Apparent to the throne, and seems destined to be the victim of a tug-of-love between the new King, William IV, and her unwise mother, the Duchess of Kent. When the King's brood of illegitimate children, the FitzClarences, join in the situation rapidly gets alarming overtones, and when one of the guests at a Windsor Castle reception finds that drinking out of other people's glasses can have fatal consequences, Mr Mozart has to face up to the fact that someone may have designs on his rather delightful new pupil.

It is 1820, and George IV has just assumed the throne. An ageing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is intrigued by the prospect of a coronation, scenting rich pickings. As a child he had visited England with his family in 1764, but instead of returning to Austria and an early death (as orthodox music history relates), they stayed on, deluded by a piece of royal generosity - the result of a misunderstanding of guttural royal English. Now Mozart conducts his own meretricious rubbish at a London theatre, but dreams of having one more 'real' opera staged before he dies. However, the trial of George IV's wayward queen for adultery, before the Lords, leads Mozart into dangerous - and indeed murderous - waters. Insulted (most graciously) by the King, the composer finds himself involved in disposing of an inconvenient corpse and initiating enquiries to uncover the murderer . . . a matter which seems of remarkably little consequence to everyone else. This diverting and perplexing piece of alternative history is a delightful addition to our knowledge of the great composer, and to the output of Bernard Bastable, also known to crime fans as Robert Barnard. 'Not only fetchingly funny, but also craftily plotted.' The Scotsman 'Great fun is had with real and imagined historical personages.' Irish Times 'Tremendous period skulduggery' Sunday Times