Praise for Gyles Brandreth and Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders
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'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 )
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 )
'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 )
'Very funny' (Independent on Sunday )
'Gyles Brandreth and Oscar Wilde seem made for one another . . . There is much here to enjoy . . . the complex and nicely structured plot zips along.' (Daily Telegraph )
'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 )
'Both a romp through
fin-de-siècle London . . . and a carefully researched portrait of Oscar Wilde . . . Very entertaining' (Literary Review )
'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 )
'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 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 )
'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'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 )
'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 )
'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 )
'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 )
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 )
'A fine and sympathetic writer' (The Times Literary Supplement )
'He can tell a story in the way Daphne du Maurier could . . . He creates a world and keeps you there' (Sunday Express )
Gyles Brandreth is a writer, performer, former MP and government whip whose career has ranged from hosting
Have I Got News For You to starring in his own award-winning musical revue in London's West End. Currently a reporter with
The One Show on BBC1 and a regular on Radio 4's
Just a Minute, his acclaimed Victorian detective stories -
The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries - are now being published in nineteen countries around the world and are currently in development for TV. All six books in the series,
Oscar Wilde and the Candellight Murders,
Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death,
Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile,
Oscar Wilde and the Nest of Vipers,
Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders and
Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol are available from John Murray. You can find out more about the Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries at www.oscarwildemurdermysteries.com and at www.johnmurray.co.uk and about Gyles at www.gylesbrandreth.net
