Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders (Oscar Wilde Mysteries 1)

by Gyles Brandreth | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 9780719569302 Global Overview for this book
Registered by shelj7k of Blackrock, Co. Dublin Ireland on 10/3/2009
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7 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by shelj7k from Blackrock, Co. Dublin Ireland on Saturday, October 3, 2009

This is a place of mystery...a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.


Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind


Dear Reader

Welcome to BookCrossing, especially if it is your first time here. I am really pleased that you found this book. It is a gift from me to you. If you wish you may hold on to it, but I hope that you will pass it on, either to a friend or loved one, or by leaving it to be found again. That way our book will be on an adventurous journey which we can follow as it gets passed along.

In the meantime, did you read the book? What did you think of it? Also, what do you think of the idea of BookCrossing? Feel free to write any thoughts when you come back to make a journal entry for this book.

While you are here, why not take a look around our website? It is completely free to register, it is safe and spam free and, if you do join, you will receive email alerts when this book is found again. I would be delighted if you wish to mention me, shelj7k, as the member who introduced you.

Happy Reading!


Journal Entry 2 by shelj7k from Blackrock, Co. Dublin Ireland on Sunday, October 11, 2009
From Amazon: 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 and the bohemian demi-monde to the underclass, that will prove the decisive factor in their investigation of what turns out to be a series of brutal killings.

The Oscar Wilde Murders is a gripping detective story of corruption and intrigue, of Wilde’s growing success, of the breakdown of his marriage, and of his fatal friendship with Aidan Fraser, Inspector at Scotland Yard... Set against the exotic background of fin-de-siecle London, Paris, Oxford and Edinburgh, Gyles Brandreth recreates Oscar Wilde’s trademark sardonic wit with huge flair, intertwining all the intrigue of the classic English murder mystery with a compelling portrait of one of the greatest characters of the Victorian age.

Journal Entry 3 by shelj7k at Blackrock, Co. Dublin Ireland on Saturday, October 16, 2010

Released 13 yrs ago (10/16/2010 UTC) at Blackrock, Co. Dublin Ireland

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Wishing you a Spooktacular Halloween! x

Journal Entry 4 by wingSerendipityNwing at Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Thursday, October 21, 2010
I had this on my wishlist and now it was sent to me for the Halloween Book & Treat RABCK Exchange organized by ApoloniaX. :)

Thank you very much for the book, the fun Halloween stuff, and the delicious chocolate, shelj7k!

Happy Halloween!

Journal Entry 5 by wingSerendipityNwing at Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Saturday, December 4, 2010
Thanks again for sending me this!

I really enjoyed this "Victorian murder mystery" - I like the style, the story's gripping and amusing. One can recognize a number of Oscar Wilde quotations and, of course, there are a lot of references to other writers etc..

I'll surely read other Oscar Wilde mysteries, too.

Journal Entry 6 by wingSerendipityNwing at Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Released 12 yrs ago (2/7/2012 UTC) at Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany

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Travels as a wishlist surprise to yorkshire-lass. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 7 by wingyorkshire-lasswing at Maidstone, Kent United Kingdom on Saturday, February 11, 2012
Thank you! I'm really looking forward to reading this, it may take me a little while to get to it as Mt TBR is huge, but I will read as soon as I can and then pass it on.

Journal Entry 8 by wingyorkshire-lasswing at Maidstone, Kent United Kingdom on Monday, March 19, 2012
This jumped to the top of my TBR pile quicker than I thought it would as I've promised it to someone.
A very enjoyable read, I will be adding the next in the series to my wishlist.

Journal Entry 9 by wingyorkshire-lasswing at Maidstone, Kent United Kingdom on Monday, March 19, 2012

Released 12 yrs ago (3/20/2012 UTC) at Maidstone, Kent United Kingdom

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This is on its way to kirakko as part of the Wishlist Tag Game - Parallel Thread, hope you enjoy it.

Journal Entry 10 by wingkirjakkowing at Sipoo, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Monday, March 26, 2012
I love Oscar Wilde,so looking very much forward to reading this. Thanks yorkshire-lass for sending it.

Journal Entry 11 by wingkirjakkowing at Sipoo, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Thursday, January 28, 2021
How time flies when you are reading books... Nearly nine years gone, but the hour has come! I've read two other books of this series, but obviously in wrong order as here Oscar is just getting to Arthur Conan Doyle. This is actually the first of the series.

Pic:"They were seated close together, side by side, like the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, at a long linen-covered table, the debris of breakfast all about them." I knew I had the perfect photo for this, taken in Cecil Court, London, in 2017.

Journal Entry 12 by wingkirjakkowing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Friday, January 29, 2021
I so know what Robert meant by saying he knew - from a lifetime's experience - the train of questions which would be prompted by the mention of his Wordsworth connection. Luckily in a smaller scale, but still. Kids do not have to learn poems by heart at school anymore, but elderly people did ("Kaksi vanhaa, vanhaa varista...").

Journal Entry 13 by wingkirjakkowing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Friday, January 29, 2021
I've followed the footsteps of Arthur Conan Doyle in a literary tour in Edinburgh.

Journal Entry 14 by wingkirjakkowing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Friday, January 29, 2021
...And found his grave from New Forest, with pipe and all.

Journal Entry 15 by wingkirjakkowing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Saturday, January 30, 2021
Lady Windemere's Fan - I've seen the play in London's Vaudeville Theatre in 2018 with Absolutely Fabulous Edwina as Lady Windermere - and she could actually act! I was never quite sure watching Patsy and Eddie falling around in Ab-Fab.
I had to smile reading how Oscar spoke Latin to his son who was not yet three. My brother's godmother's first husband was 40 years her senior and a Latinist. He had just retired when they had their little daughter, so he would look after her when her mother was at work. When she returned in the evening the girl would be coming out of bath in her robe, saluting her by holding one hand high and saying in a grave voice:
"Ave, Imperator, morituri de salutant!" Her father had been amusing himself speaking Latin to her during the day...

Journal Entry 16 by wingkirjakkowing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Sunday, January 31, 2021
I've been to Broadstairs on my first interrail-trip in 1984. It seemed a quiet seaside-resort, can't remember seeing the Dickens's House there. I have visited the Dickens's London house in 2019.
I'm taking part of the Finnish Helmet 2021-challenge with this book as there is a bunch of friends here; Oscar Wilde, his "Watson" Robert Sherard and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Pic: This plate is from Dickens' London house.
Edit: 9th June 2021: Looked through old photo albums, I've been to the Dickens House in Broadstairs!! I had no recollection of it.

Journal Entry 17 by wingkirjakkowing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Monday, February 1, 2021
Nothing much changes in 130 odd years - according to Wikipedia Prince Eddy (Albert Victor) had been suspected of being involved with the Cleveland Street male brothel and the current Prince Edward is being suspected of having sex with minors.

Oscar says: "We all need masks, do we not?" 😉 Was he able to see the future?

Here is a pic of Conan Doyle's Alma mater; the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh (also part of the literary tour), where doctor Bell taught.

Journal Entry 18 by wingkirjakkowing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Thursday, February 4, 2021
Finished. Again I had no clue who the murderer was.
I liked the book and the way Brandreth blends fact and fiction; you do not really know where the line goes. He obviously knows his facts well.
The book goes next to Annelis, whenever I happen to drive to Kerava.

Journal Entry 19 by wingkirjakkowing at Kerava, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Saturday, February 6, 2021

Released 3 yrs ago (2/6/2021 UTC) at Kerava, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland

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The Volvo Man, who gives me advice on how to better look after my precious Volvo (his words), adviced me to drive at least once a week a bit longer trip so that the battery charges properly when it is this cold. So, as I am going to see a critically ill patient today (we do not work on Saturdays, but sometimes there are exceptions to the rule) I could continue to Kerava and surprise Annelis. Otherwise I should do some house-cleaning, so I do not even have to take a vote...
Besides it is my 11th bookiversary today, of course I should drive around and hand-deliver books...

Pic: View from the doorstep of Annelis.

Journal Entry 20 by wingAnneliswing at Kerava, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Saturday, February 6, 2021
Kirjakko, thank you for the book I did not even wish for. I just finished a book two hours ago and now I can start reading this one. I also happen to have another book of this series also given to me by Kirjakko..

Journal Entry 21 by wingAnneliswing at Kerava, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Saturday, February 13, 2021
Mostly I enjoyed reading the book, but some parts I found annoying. I would not like Oscar Wilde be my friend in spite of his literary merits. He seems to treat his friends oddly even unkindly. And still they adore him. I wouldn't. Near the end I started to suspect I knew the murderer. This does not happen often!

I saw a statue of Oscar Wilde in Tartu, Estonia. There he sits on the same bench with Estonian writer Eduard Vilde.

Journal Entry 22 by wingAnneliswing at Kerava, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Monday, April 19, 2021

Released 2 yrs ago (4/19/2021 UTC) at Kerava, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland

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R-pussiin eli R-pakettiin kirja vihdoinkin pääsee.
Happy Reading, Soozreader!

Journal Entry 23 by wingSoozreaderwing at Joensuu, Pohjois-Karjala / Norra Karelen Finland on Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Thank you very much for this book!

Journal Entry 24 by wingSoozreaderwing at Joensuu, Pohjois-Karjala / Norra Karelen Finland on Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Now it makes sense why I didn’t have this part on my wishlist as I found an unregistered copy from my shelves. So this one gets to go to the AVL shelf to wait for a new reader.

Released 1 yr ago (3/30/2022 UTC) at By mail / post / courier, By Mail/Post/Courier -- Controlled Releases

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Virkkeen mitalla XV. This is the book you chose by its first sentence. Happy reading!

Journal Entry 26 by PyryJere at a fellow bookcrosser, By Mail/Post/Courier -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Thank you. This looks really interesting.

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