Arthur Conan Doyle and his playwright friend Oscar Wilde team up to discover who is behind a bizarre scheme to reanimate corpses of executed prisoners and instruct them to kill key members of the British government. All the while a menacing fog hangs over London. Wilde is hilarious, and I must admit that despite years of English lit courses I never knew he was married with two children. I didn't love Conan Doyle bringing his soon-to-be mistress into his home with his wife and children, but I know he did carry on an affair with her while Touie was dying.
All in all I think Entwistle does a nice job of bringing Oscar and Arthur to life in a new and unique way. In the course of their adventures they tussle with a strange toymaker and the menacingly flamboyant Marquess Rufus DeVayne, who rides in a yellow carriage pulled by zebras. Despite the light banter between Arthur and Oscar the overall feeling of the book is quite dark, particularly the first half, and the duo barely escape with their lives. The Marquess is truly a disgusting character and unfortunately it seems the sleuths, and Queen Victoria herself, haven't seen the last of him.
Thanks to St. Martin's and Netgalley for this ARC.
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