Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders: Oscar Wilde Mystery: 1 - Tapa dura

'He can tell a story in the way Daphne du Maurier could . . . He creates a world and keeps you there' * Sunday Express * 'A fine and sympathetic writer' * The Times Literary Supplement * PRAISE FOR GYLES BRANDRETH'Not merely, like all the best after-dinner speakers, does he know how to spin a yarn; unlike most politicians, he has a touching access to the secrets of the human heart' * The Times * 'The rollocking tale...a witty and gripping portrayal of corruption in late Victorian London,a nd one of which Wilde and Sir Arthur would be proud' * Livewire * This excellent novel . . . I'd be staggered if, by the end of 2007, you'd read many better whodunnits. Brandreth demonstrates supremely measured skill as a story-teller. * Nottingham Evening Post * I always wanted to meet Oscar Wilde and now I feel that I have done, and shared a terrific, bizarre and frightening adventure with him. I recommend the experience. * Anne Perry * Brandreth's accomplishment is evident in the force of Wilde's personality, which fairly leaps off the page . . . readers will delight in the effortless characterization and deft portrait of late Victorian England. * Stephanie Barron * This is not only a good piece of detective fiction in its own right, it is highly entertaining, spiced as it is with Wildean sayings, both real and invented and the imagined conversations and intellectual sparring between Wilde and Conan Doyle. Future tales in the series are something to look forward to * Leicester Mercury * Brandreth knows his Wilde . . . Candlelight Murders is an excellent read, and it seems the scene may be set for others in the same style -- and with the same lead character * Gay Times * Wilde as detective is thoroughly convincing. ...The period, and the two or three worlds in which Wilde himself moved, are richly evoked . . . Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders is an excellent detective story. I'm keenly looking forward to the rest of the series * The District Messenger, Journal of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London * Brandreth has the Wildean lingo down pat and the narrative is dusted with piquant social observations. A sparkling treat for fans of Wilde and Sherlock Holmes alike * Easy Living * Both a romp through fin-de-siecle London . . . and a carefully researched portrait of Oscar Wilde . . . Very entertaining * Literary Review * This bounces along with vim and wit. Beautifully packaged * Bookseller * This is to be a series and if they're all as enjoyable as the first, they'll all be surefire best-sellers . . . The plot races along like a carriage pulled by thoroughbreds . . . So enjoyably plausible * The Scotsman * An amiably enjoyable Victorian murder mystery * Sunday Times * Gyles Brandreth and Oscar Wilde seem made for one another . . . the complex and nicely structured plot zips along. * Daily Telegraph * Classically twisty * Observer * 'Brandreth has poured his considerable familiarity with London into a witty fin de siecle entertainment, and the rattlingly elegant dialogue is peppered with witticisms uttered by Wilde well before he ever thought of putting them into his plays' * Sunday Times * Genius ...Wilde has sprung back to life in this thrilling and richly atmospheric new novel . . . The perfect topography for crime and mystery . . . magnificent . . . an unforgettable shocker about sex and vice, love and death * Sunday Express * One of the most intelligent, amusing and entertaining books of the year. If Oscar Wilde himself had been asked to write this book he could not have done it any better. * Alexander McCall Smith *

In OSCAR WILDE AND THE CANDLELIGHT MURDERS, the first in Gyles Brandreth's acclaimed Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries series featuring Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle, the brutal murder of a young rent-boy puts Oscar in grave danger... 'Intelligent, amusing and entertaining' Alexander McCall Smith London, 1889. Oscar Wilde, celebrated poet, wit, playwright and raconteur is the literary sensation of his age. All Europe lies at his feet. Yet when he chances across the naked corpse of sixteen-year-old Billy Wood, posed by candlelight in a dark, stifling attic room, he cannot ignore the brutal murder. With the help of fellow author Arthur Conan Doyle he sets out to solve the crime - but it is Wilde's unparalleled access to all degrees of late Victorian life, from society drawing rooms and the bohemian demi-monde to the underclass, that will prove the decisive factor in their investigation of what turns out to be a series of brutal killings. The Oscar Wilde Murders is a gripping detective story of corruption and intrigue, of Wilde's growing success, of the breakdown of his marriage, and of his fatal friendship with Aidan Fraser, Inspector at Scotland Yard... Set against the exotic background of fin-de-siecle London, Paris, Oxford and Edinburgh, Gyles Brandreth recreates Oscar Wilde's trademark sardonic wit with huge flair, intertwining all the intrigue of the classic English murder mystery with a compelling portrait of one of the greatest characters of the Victorian age.