Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Mystery Book Review: Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by
An Oscar Wilde Mystery

Touchstone (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-4165-7579-0 (1416575790)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-7579-5 (9781416575795)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $24.00

Review: Playwright Oscar Wilde again takes on the role of amateur sleuth in Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth. This time he may be investigating the unintended consequences of an innocuous game of his own devising.

Oscar Wilde's Socrates Club meets every month at the Cadogen Hotel. Its members include some of the most celebrated men of the time: Wilde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, (narrator) Robert Sherard, Walter Sickert, and Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. On this particular first of May, 1892, Wilde asks that each member bring a guest to dinner. As part of the entertainment, he has come up with a game called "Murder". Each member and guest is given pen and paper and asked to write the name of someone they would like to kill, if, indeed, they could get away with the crime. Several people protest that the game is preposterous, but in the end, all write down a name. The pieces of paper with the names are put into a bag and pulled out, one by one, and announced to the audience. Little did anyone know, especially Wilde, that this simple game would soon become a reality.

The very next day the burned body of Miss Elizabeth Scott-Rivers is found in her home. It so happens it was her name that was first drawn the previous night. Though the authorities rule her death an accident, Wilde is suspicious. When other people whose names were drawn begin disappearing or found dead, Wilde begins an investigation into the secrets that the game participants may be hiding, one of whom is undoubtedly a killer. And he has an incentive: his name was the 13th drawn.

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder is a witty, colorful mystery that is a joy to read. Brandreth has cleverly blended real and fictional people into real and fictional situations with the result being an engaging mystery. Wilde's nonstop witticisms (which, by the way, fellow club member Bosie takes full credit for the best ones) are a particular delight. Of course Wilde feels responsible for some of Doyle's ideas later incorporated into Sherlock Holmes stories. Though historical records have provided somewhat matter-of-fact depictions of the real people mentioned in this book (with the possible exception of Oscar Wilde himself), it's a real pleasure to view them in a different context.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder and to Touchstone Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Synopsis (from the publisher): It's 1892, and Oscar Wilde is the toast of London, riding high on the success of his play Lady Windemere's Fan. While celebrating with friends at a dinner party he conjures up a game called "murder" that poses the question: Who would you most like to kill? Wilde and friends -- including Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and poet Robert Sherard (the novel's narrator) -- write the names of their "victims" on pieces of paper and choose them one by one. After leaving the party, Wilde scoffs at the suggestion that he may have instigated a very dangerous game indeed.

The very next day, the game takes an all-too-sinister turn when the first "victim" turns up dead. Soon Wilde and his band of amateur detectives must travel through the realms of politics, theatre, and even boxing to unearth whose misguided passions have the potential to become deadly poisons...not only for the perpetrator of the seemingly perfect crimes but also for the trio of detectives investigating them.

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