Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders

Oscar Wilde portrayed as a detective, in the style of Sherlock Holmes, involved in solving murders based on real events during the Victorian era. Among his friends are Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Sherard, people that he did know and associate with during his life time.

Oscar finds Billy Wood brutally murdered. A young man that Oscar knew and liked. When the body disappears the real mystery begins. Who took the body and why? Why was Billy Wood murdered in the fashion he was? Answers to these questions are to be found in the dark areas of Victorian life. Areas that society doesn't want to acknowledge exists. Areas that Oscar is familiar of.

While reading, I felt that I was viewing the world and sections of society at the time. Layers that show more are one upon the other in an effort to hide some of the ugliness that existed below the genteel façade of Victorian life. These layers had to be gently peeled back to reveal the associations and activities that led to Billy Wood's death. Activities by well known and public people that would lose their place in Victorian society if things became known.

With a good number of twists and turns Wilde slowly puts together what has happened. The help of Doyle and Sherard and Wilde's network of spies (think Baker Street Irregulars) help with the gathering of information on the possible suspects.

This is the first in the series and I have already picked up the second book and started reading. This is a book that can be read leisurely and savoured. show less

OMG this is so much better than that other Oscar Wilde/Sherlock Holmes book. This is exactly what I wanted when I read that other one that shall not be named. It was like I gave an assignment and one earned an A and the other an F.

I had thought that a mystery with Oscar Wilde in the shoes of the great detective would be a bit twee but surprisingly this didn't feel cutesy at all. Neither did Oscar Wilde feel like a caricature nor a god (which unfortunately mysteries have atendency to do for their detectives and oscar wilde books tend to do for oscar wilde). He felt like a flawed human. I would recommend this to fans of Oscar Wilde but not to fans of mysteries who only vaguely know Oscar Wilde. You will know who did it. You will not know show more who the secondary characters are and why it is so fascinating to see how they are woven into this story. show less

Ok, as you might already know, I'm not a fan of mysteries or gore. And I'm leery of using a real person as a fictional character, esp. one we know so much about. But I took a chance because Brandreth did his research and used Oscar respectfully.

And it was great fun!

I think, if one does want to attempt to solve the mystery oneself, there's a chance that some of the pieces can be put together before the presentation (by Oscar to most of the interested parties including those suspects still alive).

Also there was indeed lots of wit & insight from Oscar, and Robert was an excellent foil & chronicler. And I appreciate that there wasn't too much sensory detail making this era of London come alive, as that would've been too much for my show more sensitivities. ;)

A map might have come in handy, as the action wasn't confined to London.

"Prayers must never be answered, Robert! If prayers are answered, they cease to be prayers and become correspondence..."

I own the sequel but I'm not sure if I want to read it, as my itch for the 'world-building' was scratched by this.

I bought both at the Friends of the Library sale; I wonder who in this redneck bible-thumping community owned them before me.... show less

Brandreth is a gloriously lush writer whose enthusiasm for history is this novel's grreatest strength and its key weakness. The evocation of fin-de-siecle London and the mingling of historical figures with convincing fictional characters is hugely satisfying but Brandreth's determination to display his learning can be tiresome and the relentless presentation of historical facts is distracting at times. For all that,he breathes sympathetic life into all his characters and the historian in me could find no fault with his depiction of those aspects that were already known to me. The plot may be unremarkable and its unfolding too leisurely for hardcore whodunnit enthusiasts but I was ensnared by the language, the wit, and the sense of place show more that pervades the whole. It takes bravado to create witticisms for literary icons such as Wilde and Conan Doyle but Brandreth carries it off with panache and I am eager to read the sequels. show less

Author Oscar Wilde is shaken by his discovery of the naked and bloody corpse of a teenage acquaintance Billy Wood. However, he doesn't immediately go to the police. While breakfasting the next morning with his friends Robert Sherard and his new acquaintance Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilde tells them about his gruesome discovery and asks them to return to the scene of the crime with him. Wilde is as surprised as anyone to find an empty room with no trace of a body or of the crime that had been committed there. It seems that Scotland Yard is not interesting in investigating a crime without a body or evidence, so Wilde sets out to solve the murder himself, assisted by his friend and diarist Sherard. Taking his inspiration from Doyle's A Study in show more Scarlet, Wilde assumes the persona of Sherlock Holmes.

The pacing of the investigation is uneven, with several months elapsing between the murder and its resolution. Some of the descriptive passages are repetitive. For instance, Wilde is often described as “on song” and “wearing his bottle-green overcoat with the astrakhan collar”. Although some aspects of the book are flawed, this was still an entertaining read. Gyles Brandreth's affection for Oscar Wilde is contagious. show less

This started off very well, with the discovery by Oscar Wilde of the dead body of a boy on the first page. With Wilde as the central character, playing at being Sherlock Holmes and occassionally sparring with Arthur Conan Doyle, this was full of witty lines and laugh out loud moments. However, I thought it sagged in the middle and became a bit irritating - would even a group of litterateurs laugh over a drink in a club while holding a severed head in a box? A dramatic ending, though. An engaging read, but a bit superficial, not sure if I will read the others in the series. 4/5

entertaining
sprinkled with Wilde quotes and, somehow, Wilde makes a believable detective, at least in this first of the series
Conan Doyle is also welcome and the mystery is fair and plausible, in my opinion