OSCAR WILDE AND THE DEAD MAN'S SMILE (Giles Brandreth)

This is the first in the Christie Caper's discussion series of fiction featuring real people.  As with Brandreth's other novels in this series, the reader is transported back to Wilde's era.  The mystery is complicated and, at times, convoluted, but Wilde's wit and wile shine through, as always.  Here, Wilde and his erstwhile friend Robert Sherard form a friendship with acting great Edmond LaGrange and Wilde agrees to help LaGrange translate Hamlet into French for performance at his famous Parisian theater.  A large cast of characters, including Sarah Bernhardt, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the fictional card sharp Eddie Garstrang, blend together beautifully.  A word of warning, though: if your focus is on the "mystery" you might be disappointed with the progress of the story (where's the mystery?), but the end will make it all worthwhile.  If the Victorian lifestyle fascinates you, however, you will be mesmerized from the first page until the last.  The ending will be the icing on a delicious cake.