In Victoria’s London, someone has sliced the throat of a young man who was an artist’s model. Wilde stumbles across the body, but when he brings friends Robert Sherard (poet grandson of William Wordsworth) and new friend Arthur Conan Doyle back to the crime scene, it has been scrubbed cleaner than the room had ever been.  Conan Doyle, who plays Watson to Wilde’s Holmes, suggests calling Scotland Yard to assist in locating both the body and the murderer, but doesn’t realize he may have sent Wilde right into the den of a lion.   

Wilde has a quick wit and keen observations, both about things that can be noticed and about human nature, making him a natural detective.  He has an ease about him that makes him likable by all, and a sophistication that draws people, like Sherard to him.  Sherard is not as focused as Wilde and admits to loving too many women too often while Conan Doyle is devoted to his wife and children back home. 

The lavishness of London during Victoria’s reign is well written (Wilde often goes to his club for caviar and champagne for lunch).  Wilde does everything with flair and this is obvious throughout the investigation.  The plot is clever, as is the solution.  An unusual cast of characters coupled with a complex plot makes Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance a welcome addition to the historical mystery genre and with the prospect of eight more titles, readers will be eager for the next mystery.  

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry