By Gyles Brandreth
Touchstone, $14.00, 369 pages
Women are dying in London and Oscar Wilde is on the case. The victims have suspicious puncture wounds on their throats. Can a creature of the night be loose in Europe? With?Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders, the fourth book in the series, author Gyles Brandreth provides a thrilling addition to the historical crime fiction genre. The story opens at a glamorous party honoring the Princes of Wales. One guest, actor Rex LaSalle, claims to be a vampire. The evening ends in tragedy when the hostess is found dead. Soon Oscar Wilde and his good friend Arthur Conon Doyle are investigating the crime. The main characters? wit and humor are featured on nearly every page. It?s as if the reader steps right into the 1890s and into the shoes of Oscar Wilde. Brandreth presents the story using primary sources ? evidence that ties the case together (journal entries, newspaper articles, invitations, letters, and telegrams). Thus the narrative is fast-paced and highly enjoyable. The investigation leads Wilde and Conon Doyle to asylums for ?hysterical? women, to private audiences with royalty, and to a theater run by Bram Stoker. Will the super-sleuths break the case before it?s too late?
Reviewed by Kathryn Franklin
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