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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9781416534839
ISBN number: 1416534830
Label: Touchstone
Manufacturer: Touchstone
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: January 08, 2008
Publishing house: Touchstone
Sale Popularity Level: 48366
Studio: Touchstone
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Product Description:
One of Britain's premier royal biographers pens the very first in a series of fiendishly clever and stylish historical murder mysteries
Lovers of historical mystery will relish this chilling Victorian tale based on real events and cloaked in authenticity. Best of all, it casts British literature's most fascinating and controversial figure as the lead sleuth.
A young artist's model has been murdered, and legendary wit Oscar Wilde enlists his friends Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Sherard to help him investigate. But when they arrive at the scene of the crime they find no sign of the gruesome killing -- save one small spatter of blood, high on the wall. Set in London, Paris, Oxford, and Edinburgh at the height of Queen Victoria's reign, here is a gripping eyewitness account of Wilde's secret involvement in the curious case of Billy Wood, a young man whose brutal murder served as the inspiration for The Picture of Dorian Gray. Told by Wilde's contemporary -- poet Robert Sherard -- this novel provides a fascinating and evocative portrait of the great playwright and his own 'consulting detective,' Sherlock Holmes creator, Arthur Conan Doyle.
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Rated by buyers 
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Oscar Wilde (author/playwright), Robert Sherard (poet/journalist), and Arthur Conan Doyle (author) come together in this fictional story of murder and suspense. Told in Sherard's point of view, Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance, fully begins when Wilde comes across the dead body of a friend, Billy Wood. However, once Wilde tries to go back and prove there has been a murder, the body is missing and the room has been cleaned.
Doyle sends Wilde to his friend Aidan Fraser of the Scotland Yard, but with no body, Fraser feels he can't start an investigaion. Knowing that a friend of his has been killed, Wilde sets out on his own search to bring justice to this crime.
The story is full of mystery, murder, intellect, and Wilde's witticisms. In the fashion of Doyle's creation, Sherlock Holmes, Wilde has a keen eye for detail and becomes a skilled detective himself. Highly recommended.
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Rated by buyers -
The most fun I have had reading a little book in a long time. I loved Agatha Christie books and Sherlock Holmes so the setting in Victorian London was just perfect for me. Plus Oscar Wilde's wit was unmatchable. I can't wait for the subsequent book. I usually don't buy books but I may end up buying this series. I like this even more than Sarah Caudwell's books.
Rated by buyers 
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I wouldn't call OSCAR WILDE AND A DEATH OF NO IMPORTANCE a perfect book, but it's well written and a lot of fun. I enjoyed talking some time off from more serious reading to enjoy this book in a hammock in the back garden.
If you love Oscar Wilde, if you enjoy Sherlock Holmes, and if you're looking for something a little lighthearted, but still a lot of fun, I don't see how you could go wrong with this book.
Rated by buyers -
First, a confession. Not only am I an Oscar Wilde scholar, of sorts, but I am also a life long devotee of The Canon. So, this book is a perfect escape for myself, and I must commend the author on not only coming up with a fine mystery deserving of Sherlock Holmes himself, but more importantly (and more of interest) a fine, balanced portrait of what Oscar Wilde may well have been like in his very brief prime. While Oscar Wilde has become in recent years somewhat of a poster child for the gay rights movement, in reality he was a much more complex, nuanced person who by all accounts did love his wife and children dearly--as well as beauty in all of its wondrous permutations. The book is quite well written as well, as befits its subject. Whilst perhaps I should have seen the ending coming, my disbelief was willingly suspended long enough to result in a very enjoyable and satisfying finish to this quick, rewarding read.
Rated by buyers 
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It's no mystery why Brandreth chose Oscar Wilde as his protagonist. In real life, Wilde was a larger-than-life character who, in his day, pricked society's balloon, which was full of stuffy Victorian hot air. In "A Death of No Importance," Wilde happily admits to imitating Sherlock Holmes--almost too much perhaps. He's so intent on solving the mystery with such calculated confidence that we often forget he's the urbane bon vivant. Brandreth has to remind us by having Oscar indulge in an occasional glass of champagne. By the book's end, Wilde is still more of a caricature than a character--you never truly understand him or feel much for him, or any of the characters for that matter.
It's a mildly fun ride, though, especially if you like the mix of literary characters and Sherlock Holmesiana. If you do, you'll spot the villian halfway through the book. But most of the fun comes from following Oscar romp around 1890s London. All in all, this book is an interesting, perhaps frivolous, addition to the subgenre of historical mysteries.
However, it rings at least one major false note: Instead of embracing Oscar Wilde's homosexuality, and using that as something of a foil for the mores of the day, Brandreth takes the line that Wilde was (at the time in which this book is set anyway) not gay and, in his own way, devoted to his wife. Who knows the real truth? But it feels like a cop out in order to appease the mainstream reader.
One final quibble: Brandreth loves his commas. He is comma crazy. He never fails to insert one when the slightest opportunity arises. Here's a random example: "Aidan Fraser, Oscar, and I were standing in our places, clutching our napkins, like errant schoolboys, with slates in hand, being admonished by their governess."
Nevertheless, I'm, rather, looking, forward, to, the, next, book, in, this, series.
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