Bravo Victor

Bravo Victor is the sixth in The Princelings of the East series, and stars Victor, keeper of the Inn of the Seventh Happiness, a much-loved character in four of the previous books.

Victor has grown up but, in spite of his ambitions to be a business guru, he’s still running the Inn of the Seventh Happiness more or less single-handed. Always enthusiastic, he has a new project – a velocipede, an early form of bicycle – and he’s looking for a partner to work with. While he’s doing that, he stumbles on some odd information, and seeks advice from King Fred at Castle Marsh. Fred has his own problems, since his brother George has not returned from a flying festival. Victor joins Sundance, a secret agent, to help him unmask a criminal in the Rhinelands and at the same time search for George. What he finds is a web of intrigue, involving numerous versions of a well-known soft drink, two people who profess to own it, and a flying machine that may or may not hold the key to the future. And Victor’s biggest headache comes from meeting an old friend… who is no older than he was when Victor was just a wee lad.

Originally written straight after The Traveller in Black and White, Bravo Victor changed over time from a whodunnit to a gentler mystery, and pulls together some loose ends from books 1 and 4. New inventions are foremost in people’s lives, while unrest in the Realms is in the background, showing itself in subtle ways through changing attitudes and resistance to traditional authority. Business studies students, would-be smugglers, budding inventors and aviation enthusiasts will all enjoy the insights into life the Realms, and it’s never too early to find out about money – as Victor discovered many years ago! And just how many brands of cola are going to appear before the end?

Lovers of the series will enjoy this latest adventure, and newcomers will be pleased to find a chronology of major events in earlier tales relevant to this book as well as a cast of characters. It’s a mystery adventure in a world not quite like ours, suitable for age 12 and upwards.