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Reviews

Book 1:

Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders (UK)
Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance (USA)

‘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

‘Wilde has sprung back to life in this thrilling and richly atmospheric new novel ... The perfect topography for crime and mystery ... Brandreth’s stroke of genius … magnificent … an unforgettable shocker about sex and vice, love and death’ - Sunday Express

‘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

‘Very funny’ - Independent on Sunday

‘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

‘This is to be a series and if they’re all as enjoyable as the first, they’ll all be surefire best-sellers … Fabulous … 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

‘So many real-life figures have been dragooned as detective heroes that readers are likely to be blasé unless a writer can come up with something special. And that’s just what Gyles Brandreth has done for this diverting mystery.’ - The Good Book Guide

‘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

‘A lively, amusing and clever murder mystery starring Oscar Wilde – larger than life, brilliant, generous, luxurious – with a new trait: he is now a master sleuth not unlike Sherlock Holmes . . . Brandreth is steeped in the lore of Wilde, but this doesn’t oppress the story which is a cleverly plotted thriller through London’s demi-monde ... Highly entertaining’ - The Dubliner

‘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

‘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

‘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, Newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London

‘Brandreth knows his Wilde … He knows his Holmes too … The plot is devilishly clever, the characters are fully fleshed, the mystery is engrossing, and the solution is perfectly fair. I love it.’ - The Sherlock Holmes Journal

‘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 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

‘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

'In this wow of a history-mystery, Brandreth gives us nothing less than the most credible Sherlock Holmes since the master of deductive reasoning toppled into Reichenbach Falls—except the uncannily brilliant sleuth is not Holmes but Oscar Wilde. . . . This mystery is fascinating on several levels: for its plotting, which quickly ensnares the reader; for its ring of absolute authenticity (it’s clear that Brandreth is an expert on Wilde and his writings); but, most of all, for the portrait Brandreth provides of a truly complex character, as entertaining as he is controversial. . . . This is the first in a projected series, and it is a first-class stunner.' - Connie Fletcher, Booklist