Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth is a British writer, broadcaster, actor and former politician whose career has included serving as MP for the City of Chester and as a government whip during John Major’s administration. He has written political diaries, memoirs, biographies, children’s books and works about language and entertainment. His non-fiction includes Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries, Odd Boy Out, Philip: The Final Portrait and Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait.

His principal historical fiction is the Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries, a series of Victorian detective novels in which Oscar Wilde investigates crimes alongside figures such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Sherard. Beginning with Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders, also published as Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance, the series includes Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death, Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man’s Smile, Oscar Wilde and the Nest of Vipers, Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders and Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol. The novels combine murder investigations with Wilde’s theatrical career, friendships, wit and eventual imprisonment, recreating the literary and social world of late Victorian Britain.