Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importa..., Gyles Brandreth
Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importa..., Gyles Brandreth
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Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance

Author: Gyles Brandreth

Narrator: Bill Wallis

Unabridged: 10 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2011

Synopsis

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 to the underclass, that will prove the decisive factor in the investigation of what turns out to be a series of brutal killings. Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance is a classic murder mystery in the tradition of Dorothy L. Sayers and Arthur Conan Doyle.

About Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth is a prominent BBC broadcaster, theater producer, novelist, and biographer. He has written bestselling biographies of Britain’s royal family and an acclaimed diary of his years as a Member of Parliament. He lives in London with his family.

About Bill Wallis

Bill Wallis has performed in over two hundred radio series and plays, while among his numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company are The Alchemist, The Master Builder, and Twelfth Night. He is also a prolific film and television actor, having made numerous appearances in such productions as Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Midsomer Murders, Bad Girls, Doctors, Poirot, and as Dr. Nick MacKenzie in Dangerfield.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Plateresca

I've taken a look at other reviews and I think that the name of Oscar Wilde on the cover, so to speak, sets people's expectations rather high. I did not know what to expect from the book, so I wasn't disappointed. However, some people say that Wilde's homosexuality is covered up here, — I do not fin......more

Goodreads review by Kim

It's difficult to put my finger on exactly what it was about this book that I didn't like. I think a lot of it is the narrator, Wilde's friend Robert Sherard. The narration just felt off. Half the time the narrator is being oblivious of any hints of homosexuality, regardless of how many rent boys he......more

Quotes

“A witty fin de siècle entertainment, and the rattlingly elegant dialogue is peppered with witticisms uttered by Wilde well before he ever thought of putting them into his plays.” Sunday Times (London)

“Genius…Wilde has sprung back to life in this thrilling and richly atmospheric new novel…Magnificent…an unforgettable shocker about sex and vice, love and death.” Sunday Express

“This excellent novel…I’d be staggered if, by the end of 2007, you’d read many better whodunits. Brandreth demonstrates supremely measured skill as a storyteller.” Nottingham Post

“A first-class stunner…[A] wow of a history-mystery…Fascinating.” Booklist (starred review)

“Oscar Wilde makes a stylish sleuth in this clever series debut.” Publishers Weekly

“Brandreth…spins a tale of human frailty and self-preservation…a promising start.” Library Journal

“Brandreth’s accomplishment is evident in the force of Wilde’s personality, which fairly leaps off the page…readers will delight in the effortless characterization and deft portrait of late-Victorian England.” Stephanie Barron, author of Jane and the Barque of Frailty

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