We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781848542525

Price: £9.99

ON SALE: 2nd February 2012

Genre: Fiction & Related Items / Crime & Mystery

Select a format:

ebook

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

In OSCAR WILDE AND THE VATICAN MURDERS, the fifth in Gyles Brandreth’s acclaimed Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries series featuring Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle, the two must penetrate the highest echelons of the Catholic Church to solve a macabre series of killings. ‘Intelligent, amusing and entertaining’ Alexander McCall Smith

In 1892 Arthur Conan Doyle, exhausted by his creation Sherlock Holmes, retires to the spa at Bad Homburg. But his rest cure does not go as planned. The first person he encounters is Oscar Wilde, and when the two friends make a series of macabre discoveries amongst the portmanteau of fan mail Conan Doyle has brought to answer – a severed finger, a lock of hair and finally an entire severed hand – the game is once more afoot.

The trail leads to Rome, to the very heart of the Eternal City, the Vatican itself. Pope Pius IX has just died. These are uncertain times. To uncover the mystery and why the creator of Sherlock Holmes has been summoned in this way, Oscar and Conan Doyle must penetrate the innermost circle of the Catholic Church – seven men who have a very great deal to lose.

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

'A flight of imagination that partners Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle in a deadly pursuit to the heart of the Eternal City merits a round of applause for sheer chutzpah . . . Gyles Brandreth succeeds magnificently . . . The relationship between the two writers is drawn so convincingly, but there is also dialogue of the period without any Victorian heaviness and a plot that is intriguing throughout. Brandreth's research is impeccable. Literary and theological references merge easily into a skilfully crafted story that goes all the way to meet the standards set by his two eminent protagonists'
Daily Mail
'Brandreth has always delighted in puzzles, in the quirks of both the 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 how enjoyable a well-told traditional murder mystery can be'
Scotsman
'Brandreth's deftly plotted, entertaining escapades double as historical novels of considerable merit . . . Brandreth is a deft hand at weaving plot, historical atmosphere and entertaining characters'
Historical Novels Review
Praise for the Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries: 'Brandreth's portrait of Oscar Wilde is entirely plausible; plots are ingenious and the historical backgroud is fascinating'
Scotsman
'Hugely enjoyable'
Daily Mail
'Cleverly plotted, intelligent and thoroughly diverting . . . This novel is an educated page-turner; a feast of intriguing and light-hearted entertainment'
Good Book Guide
'A cast of historical characters to die for'
Sunday Times
'A carnival of cliff-hangers and fiendish twists-and-turns . . . The joy of the book . . . is the rounded and compelling presentation of the character of Wilde . . . The imaginary and the factual are woven together with devilish ingenuity. Brandreth also gives his hero speeches of great beauty and wisdom and humanity'
Sunday Express
'Packed with colourful characters and unlikely adventures . . . this latest instalment in Brandreth's clever and unapologetically entertaining Oscar Wilde series will not disappoint'
Good Book Guide