Book Review 54
The Candlelight Murders
By Gyles Brandreth
As his eyes adjusted to the gloom of the attic, he saw by the light of guttering candles, stretched out on the floor before him, the body of a young man, his throat cut from ear to ear . . .
London, 1889: Famous writer Oscar Wilde is the toast of London town. But when the body of a young man of his acquaintance is found in a dark attic room, surrounded by candles, he knows he can't rest until the killer is behind bars.
Appealing to fellow author Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the great Sherlock Holmes, the pair set out to solve the crime.
But unravelling a real-life plot is very different to writing one. Can Wilde and Doyle outsmart the murderer hiding in the shadows, before it's too late?
A wonderfully witty and gripping cosy historical mystery to transport you to the grand drawing rooms and back alleys of London. Perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and Richard Osman.
This popped up as an free Amazon daily deal book, so I nabbed it. I was very intrigued by the idea of Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle working together to solve the murder of a young man. That 'fact' is somewhat disingenuous if I'm honest, as Conan Doyle isn't a major player in the book; he pops up from time to time, but most of the time he isn't involved. Wilde's 'Watson' is Robert Sherward who is a very close friend of Wilde (but not a lover). Sherwood was a real person, but quite what relationship, if any, he actually had with Wilde as far as I can gather isn't actually known.
Gyles Brandreth writes as he talks, extremely intellectually, rather verbosely, very knowledgeably, and he can certainly tell a good story. He has written about Wilde, so he does know his stuff. Alexander McCall Smith's comment on the cover 'Intelligent, amusing and entertaining' really does sum the book and the writing up perfectly.
In terms of writing and the story itself, I can't fault the book. It kept me guessing all the way through as to who had murdered Wilde's young friend. I really had no idea and the extra twist, really had me taken aback. Once I thought about it, it all added up and made sense; it wasn't a case of having to twist things to believe in who had done it.
The blurb was correct, I was transported to the grand drawing rooms and back alleys and the not-so-grand houses and locations. I felt I was there, I believed in the setting and the sights and sounds and smells. Nothing was overwritten, GB didn't describe every blade of grass or ever cobble on the street. The characters were all really well drawn and again completely believable and real, yet not overwritten. It was witty; it was gripping; it held my attention; it kept me guessing; it made me laugh and feel sympathy and varying other emotions. I enjoyed it - a lot.
So why didn't I love it? Why haven't I already bought the second book in the series? That is what I am trying to work out. It had almost everything I look for in a top-notch book and yet there was something that is stopping me from loving it and getting the next book - or indeed the rest of them. The only thing I can possibly put this down to is that whilst the book was so well written, so intelligent, amusing and entertaining, it is a book where you really do have to read every word.
That might sound a strange thing to say, and I'm not I can quite put into words what I mean by 'reading every word'. I just know that in the vast number of books I read, I don't 'consciously' read every word. There are some books (as I've mentioned in a few reviews) whereby it's so detailed, I have resorted to scan reading at times, but that is different from 'not reading every word'. I'm probably not making any sense at all, but it's kind of like in say speech when you have 'he said' 'she said' and you don't consciously read all the 'he said' 'she saids'; you don't form these words in your mind as words, you just 'see it' and absorb it, without actually reading it. Whereas with this book and I'm guessing with the other books in the series, I really did have to read every word.
I'm probably not making any sense whatsoever, so I shall stop trying and just go away *g* I shall continue to ponder whether to get the next book in the series or not.