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Published May 2012
368 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders opens in 1892, as an exhausted Arthur Conan Doyle retires to a spa in Germany with a suitcase full of fan mail. But his rest cure does not go as planned. The first person he encounters is Oscar Wilde, and the two friends make a series of macabre discoveries among the letters - a finger; a lock of hair; and, finally, an entire severed hand.
The trail leads the intrepid duo to Rome, and to a case that involves miracles as well as murder. Pope Pius IX has just died - these are uncertain times in the Eternal City. To uncover the mystery and discover why the creator of Sherlock Holmes has been summoned in this way, Wilde and Conan Doyle must penetrate the innermost circle of the Catholic Church and expose the deadly secrets of the six men closest to the pope.
In Gyles Brandreth's captivating and richly atmospheric novel, Wilde's powers as a detective are put to the test in his most compelling case yet.
Paperback original
"The mystery is more engaging than the previous books, even if the solution isn't Brandreth's cleverest." - Publishers Weekly
"Brandreth's fifth Oscar Wilde caper (Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders, 2011, etc.) floats on a cushion of bubbly banter and droll period references. The whole series is literary escapism of a high order, though with each episode the mystery seems to recede further in importance." - Kirkus Reviews
"Brandreth has always delighted in puzzles, in the quirks of the both 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 just how enjoyable a well-told traditional murder mystery can be." - The Scotsman (UK)
"Fast-paced from the moment the two Brits meet in Germany, fans will enjoy this entertaining late Victorian whodunit although the denouement is not quite as strong as the jaunty journey getting to the solution." - The Mystery Gazette
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Gyles Brandreth was born in a British Forces Hospital in
Germany, where, in the aftermath of the Second World War, his father, Charles
Brandreth, was serving as a legal officer with the Allied Control Commission and
counted among his colleagues, H Montgomery Hyde, who, in 1948, published the
first full account of the trials of Oscar Wilde. In 1974, at the Oxford Theatre
Festival, Brandreth produced the first stage version of The Trials of
Oscar Wilde, with Tom Baker as Wilde, and, in 2000, he edited the
transcripts of the trials for an audio production starring Martin Jarvis.
He was educated at the Lycée Français de Londres,
at Betteshanger School in Kent, and at Bedales School in Hampshire. Like Robert
Sherard, Brandreth went on to New College, Oxford, where...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Gyles Brandreth's Website
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