A review by marleysclassics
Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol by Gyles Brandreth

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I stumbled over this book at a second-hand bookstore and basically only bought it because the idea of a fictional story about Oscar Wilde as a detective intrigued me. Only when starting the book, I realised how historically accurate it is in a lot of aspects. Even though prison life in the 1890s is no topic I am particularly interested in, Gyles Brandreth put a handful of interesting, mysterious and multilayered characters in this barren environment. While most of them were the exact opposite of likeable, some of them were more flashed-out than I thought in the beginning. Furthermore, the fluent writing style made for a fast-paced and thus very entertaining and gripping story. I especially enjoyed the numerous quotations of Oscar Wilde that are sprinkled throughout the novel. All in all, even though the middle dragged a little bit, and the setting wasn‘t my favourite (even though you really can‘t blame anyone for that), Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol was quite an enjoyable read for me, so that now I am interested in reading murder mysteries again - maybe even in reading some other books from this series.