Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death (Oscar Wilde Mystery #2)

Author(s): Gyles Brandreth

Crime

'I see murder in this unhappy hand!' When Mrs Robinson, palmist to the Prince of Wales, reads Oscar Wilde's palm she cannot know what she has predicted. Nor can Oscar know what he has set in motion when, that same evening, he proposes a game of 'Murder' in which each of his Sunday Supper Club guests must write down those whom they would like to kill. For the fourteen 'victims' begin to die mysteriously, one by one, and in the order in which their names were drawn from the bag! With growing horror, Wilde and his confidantes Robert Sherard and Arthur Conan Doyle, realise that one of their guests that evening must be the murderer. In a race against time, Wilde will need all his powers of deduction and knowledge of human behaviour before he himself -- the thirteenth name on the list -- becomes the killer's next victim.

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'Hugely enjoyable' -- Daily Mail 'An amusing and satisfactorily unlikely story' -- Jessica Mann, Literary Review 'One of the most enjoyable crime series around ... He slips easily into the 21st century, does this Oscar (imagine, if you can, an even higher-wattage Stephen Fry), just as, thanks to Brandreth, we as readers are able to travel effortlessly back to join him in his own age. It is well worth the journey - and I can't wait until the next one.' -- Scotsman 'It's all mid-morning bracers, detections based on the shininess of shoes, hansom cabs and gems like "work is the best antidote to sorrow" as we gallivant around 1890's London. Wilde is a tough subject to make boring, but this is great escapism' -- Danny Wheeler, London Lite '[A] deservedly well-received series' -- District Messenger 'A neat take on the big hitters in the book world just over a century ago ! Gyles is a joy to the nation' -- Virginia Blackburn, Daily Express 'Terrifically well researched, it all whizzes along and the reader can have fun identifying the real Wilde's witticisms from Brandreth's' -- Scotland on Sunday 'Brandreth really has got the measure of his subject, catching the essence of the great man at almost every turn' -- Yorkshire Evening Post 'That curious, uneasy shadowland of late Victorian London, where Society, Art and Popular Entertainment overlap, is richly evoked, and the details of Wilde's life are mentioned by Sherard ! in a perfectly natural, convincing manner: the man he presents to us is both the authentic Oscar and the authentic amateur sleuth' -- District Messenger 'A carnival of cliffhangers and fiendish twists-and-turns' -- Sunday Express 'Gyles is a joy to the nation.' -- International Express 'A good read' -- Woman's Way 'Sparking dialogue, as you would expect, mystery piled deliciously upon mystery, a plot with a pace and a panache and a London backdrop that would grace any Victorian theatre' -- Steve Craggs, Northern Echo 'Rather fun !Brandreth unashamedly wheels out a cast of historical characters to die for' -- Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times 'One of the most enjoyable (series) around' -- Diplomat Magazine 'As much imaginative biography as murder mystery, this book paints a lively portrait of Wilde at the height of his fame' -- Irish Examiner 'Engaging, entertaining and skilfully written' -- The Sydney Morning Herald 'A clever concept spiced with great Wilde epigrams' -- Daily Telegraph 'Wickedly imagined and wildly entertaining' -- Good Book Guide 'An enjoyable read' -- MX Magazine (Australia) Praise for Gyles Brandreth and Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders" -- - '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-siecle" 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 '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 'Plush entertainment from Gyles Brandreth' -- The Times

Gyles Brandreth is a writer, broadcaster and former MP. He currently writes for the Daily Telegraph" and Mail on Sunday".

General Fields

  • : 9780719569609
  • : John Murray
  • : John Murray
  • : 0.29
  • : 31 January 2009
  • : United Kingdom
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : 448
  • : 823.914
  • : Paperback
  • : Gyles Brandreth