A review by aditurbo
Jack the Ripper: Case Closed by Gyles Brandreth

4.0

Enjoyable but not great. Brandreth is still (as in the previous books in the series) afraid or unwilling to address the issue of Oscar Wilde's homosexuality directly, and tiptoes around the subject in a ridiculous way. Also, his Wilde is a caricature, spitting out aphorisms and behaving erratically with no explanation. I believe the real Wilde was so intelligent that he must have behaved in a more reasonable way. From reading his "De Profundis" I got a picture of a mature person, with an unbelievable capacity for self-knowledge and self-consciousness. I find it hard to reconcile that man with Brandreth's character. Conan Doyle appears characterless here, following Wilde around blindly even though he doesn't provide any reasons for his behaviour or explanations for the things he says. Conan Doyle has to work to keep his wife and children cared for, but he keeps skipping work to jump out every time Wilde calls him.
Still, I love the period and was interested enough to keep reading, although I figured out who the killer was before the denouement.