Oscar Wilde & the Dead Man’s Smile
Oscar Wilde & the Dead Man’s Smile by Gyles Brandreth.
Paperback: 365 pages
Publisher: Touchstone; (September 1, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1416534857
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Starred Review. Oscar Wilde once again makes a convincing detective in Brandreth's excellent third whodunit to recreate the late Victorian age (after 2008's Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder). Framed as a puzzle posed by Wilde to his friend Arthur Conan Doyle in 1890, this adventure concerns a series of mysterious deaths plaguing a French acting troupe, the Compagnie La Grange, which Wilde encounters aboard ship in 1883. The first death is of a poodle, Marie Antoinette, whose body a customs officer in Liverpool unearths in a dirt-filled trunk that Wilde believed to be full of books he was bringing home from America. Human victims follow, forcing Wilde and his Watson, real-life journalist and Wilde biographer Robert Sherard, to untangle the complicated nest of emotions at play among the members of the Compagnie La Grange. John Dickson Carr fans will be gratified to find echoes of his style in several places, including the use of false endings.
Gyles Brandreth writes excellent “who done it’s”!
As much as the whole book is enjoyable I would be shocked if anyone knew the answers before the Epilogue at the end of the book! It’s most brilliant and a really enjoyable read. I am more then happy that I have yet one more Gyles Brandreth book to read!
This latest adventure takes place in France with an acting troupe which is mostly family. One by one they seem to be commiting suicide, which by the way is legal in France. It seems that suicide runs in the family… boy does it ever!
Brandreth puts you right into the 1890’s with theater being the ultimate thing to be seen, and actors with larger than life egos.
But who would “murder” a dog? There really is a lot going on that I promise you, you won’t find out until the end!
Bravo Gyles Brandreth for once again making Oscar Wilde a real life Sherlock Holmes!
posted by DesLily | 1:27 PM
6 Comments:
I love the idea that he puts Oscar Wilde into these Mystery books.....It sounds like a "page0turner"....(I love that expression....!)
I've only read the first in the series. And I'm not quite sure how I feel about how "shocking" the resolutions are--how you really, really can't guess or predict how it will turn out.
I'm glad you like the series!
naomi: me too! and I like that he uses other names that are well known like conan doyle
becky: I think not being able to guess is a good thing for a change.. most mysteries we figure it out it's kind of nice waiting for the end lol..though I wouldn't want it all the time!
kelly: so far the two books are book excellent.. I have yet another I will get to soon
Sounds like a good one Pat! I love it when the ending surprises me.
This one sounds good. The books are popular here because every time I take one out of the library it ends up being reserved by someone else. I think The Ring of Fire was the one I had to take back. I'll read them eventually.
kathleen: if like sherlock holmes sort of deductions you will like these books!
Cath: I am so glad I have yet one more to read (the ring of death)
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