Book Review: Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders By Gyles Brandreth

I recently received a copy of the new book Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders: A Mystery by Gyles Brandreth to review.

Fifth in a line of a historical mystery series, Oscar Wilde is a detective helped in part by his friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, the one who wrote Sherlock Holmes) back in 1892. Sir Arthur is exhausted and retires to a spa in Germany to recover, only to end up finding a series of macabre discoveries with his friend Oscar Wilde who coincidentally just happens to be staying there as well - a finger, a lock of hair, and the best one of all - a severed hand. (I do so love the morbidness of it!) The pair end up following a trail to Rome, where Pope Pius IX has just passed away. Rome is in a state of uncertain times, and Holmes and Conan Doyle must infiltrate the innermost circle of the Catholic Church in order to expose the deadly secrets lurking inside.

I rubbed my hands together in glee when this one arrived. Being a huge fan of historical novels with an element of mystery - and of course, morbidness - this book was right up my alley. I stayed up reading it, because I did not want to put it down! The book itself is drawn from the unpublished memoirs of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The writing is smooth, and the storyline flows easily. If you love historical mysteries, you not only need to read this book, but check out the entire series. Gyles Brandreth has quickly made it to top of my to-read list!

The book also includes a reading group guide at the end of the book, with discussions questions, as well as a question and answer conversation with the author.

Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders: A Mystery by Gyles Brandreth is a paperback mystery book published by Touchstone and will be available on May 8th, 2012. It is 368 pages long. The suggested cover price is $14.00, but Amazon has it available for $10.99 as of this posting. It will also be available in hardcover, and as an e-book for the Kindle and other e-readers.

I received a copy of this book in order to read it and share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own, and not that of the author(s) or publisher.