In OSCAR WILDE AND THE MURDERS AT READING GAOL, the sixth in Gyles Brandreth’s acclaimed Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries series featuring Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle, Reading Gaol’s most famous prisoner is pitted against a ruthless and fiendishly clever serial killer. ‘Intelligent, amusing and entertaining’ Alexander McCall Smith
It is 1897, Dieppe. Oscar Wilde, poet, playwright, novelist, raconteur and ex-convict, has fled the country after his release from Reading Gaol. Tonight he is sharing a drink and the story of his cruel imprisonment with a mysterious stranger. He has endured a harsh regime: the treadmill, solitary confinement, censored letters, no writing materials. Yet even in the midst of such deprivation, Oscar’s astonishing detective powers remain undiminished – and when first a brutal warder and then the prison chaplain are found murdered, who else should the governor turn to for help other than Reading Gaol’s most celebrated inmate?
In this, the latest novel in his acclaimed Oscar Wilde murder mystery series, Gyles Brandreth takes us deep into the dark heart of Wilde’s cruel incarceration.
It is 1897, Dieppe. Oscar Wilde, poet, playwright, novelist, raconteur and ex-convict, has fled the country after his release from Reading Gaol. Tonight he is sharing a drink and the story of his cruel imprisonment with a mysterious stranger. He has endured a harsh regime: the treadmill, solitary confinement, censored letters, no writing materials. Yet even in the midst of such deprivation, Oscar’s astonishing detective powers remain undiminished – and when first a brutal warder and then the prison chaplain are found murdered, who else should the governor turn to for help other than Reading Gaol’s most celebrated inmate?
In this, the latest novel in his acclaimed Oscar Wilde murder mystery series, Gyles Brandreth takes us deep into the dark heart of Wilde’s cruel incarceration.
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Reviews
'A cast of historical characters to die for'
'A flight of imagination that partners Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle in a deadly pursuit to the heart of the Eternal City merits a round of applause for sheer chutzpah . . . Gyles Brandreth succeeds magnificently . . . The relationship between the two writers is drawn so convincingly, but there is also dialogue of the period without any Victorian heaviness and a plot that is intriguing throughout. Brandreth's research is impeccable. Literary and theological references merge easily into a skilfully crafted story that goes all the way to meet the standards set by his two eminent protagonists'
Praise for the Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries:
'Brandreth's portrait of Oscar Wilde is entirely plausible; plots are ingenious and the historical backgroud is fascinating'
'Brandreth's deftly plotted, entertaining escapades double as historical novels of considerable merit . . . Brandreth is a deft hand at weaving plot, historical atmosphere and entertaining characters'
'Packed with colourful characters and unlikely adventures . . . this latest instalment in Brandreth's clever and unapologetically entertaining Oscar Wilde series will not disappoint'
'A carnival of cliff-hangers and fiendish twists-and-turns . . . The joy of the book . . . is the rounded and compelling presentation of the character of Wilde . . . The imaginary and the factual are woven together with devilish ingenuity. Brandreth also gives his hero speeches of great beauty and wisdom and humanity'
'Very entertaining'
'Brandreth has always delighted in puzzles, in the quirks of both the past and present, and in the gloriously camp wit of Oscar Wilde. Here all of these things come together in a story that reminds us how enjoyable a well-told traditional murder mystery can be'
Praise for the Oscar Wilde Series
'Gyles Brandreth and Oscar Wilde seem made for each other'
'A cast of historical characters to die for'
'What sets the novel apart is Brandreth's talent for conveying time and place. The barbarism of close confinement has rarely been so graphically and movingly portrayed'
'Even the conventional crime novel has its pleasures'
'The curse of fictionalising well-known characters is having to manoeuvre within the facts, but Brandreth manages it superlatively. This is light stuff, but energetic, and Brandreth clearly has Wilde at heart'
'Hugely enjoyable'
'Cleverly plotted, intelligent and thoroughly diverting . . . This novel is an educated page-turner; a feast of intriguing and light-hearted entertainment'
'Genius . . . Wilde has sprung back to life in this thrilling and richly atmospheric new novel'
'A witty fin-de-siecle entertainment . . . rattlingly elegant dialogue'