Book description
London, 1889. Oscar Wilde, celebrated poet, wit, playwright and
raconteur is the literary sensation of his age. All Europe lies at his
feet. Yet when he chances across the naked corpse of sixteen-year-old
Billy Wood, posed by candlelight in a dark, stifling attic room, he
cannot ignore the brutal murder. With the help of fellow author Arthur
Conan Doyle he sets out to solve the crime -- but it is Wilde's
unparalleled access to all degrees of late Victorian life, from society
drawing rooms and the bohemian demi-monde to the underclass, that will
prove the decisive factor in their investigation of what turns out to be
a series of brutal killings. The Oscar Wilde Murders is a gripping
detective story of corruption and intrigue, of Wilde's growing success,
of the breakdown of his marriage, and of his fatal friendship with Aidan
Fraser, Inspector at Scotland Yard...Set against the exotic background
of fin-de-siecle London, Paris, Oxford and Edinburgh, Gyles Brandreth
recreates Oscar Wilde's trademark sardonic wit with huge flair,
intertwining all the intrigue of the classic English murder mystery with
a compelling portrait of one of the greatest characters of the Victorian
age.
