Wilde West - Hardcover

Walter Satterthwait

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312059973 ISBN 13: 9780312059972

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1991

Synopsis

During his lecture tour of the American West, English writer and personality Oscar Wilde discovers that someone in his entourage has been murdering prostitutes, and after he is named a suspect, he is determined to find the madman and clear his name

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

In this perfect blend of mystery, satire and travelogue, Satterthwait ( At Ease with the Dead ) follows Oscar Wilde in his 1882 lecture tour through the American West. Wilde greatly amuses his audiences and Elizabeth McCourt Doe in particular, initiating a torrid (and to the reader, surprising) affair with her. Meanwhile U.S. marshal Bob Grigsby connects a series of murders and eviscerations of prostitutes to the cities where Wilde has delivered his disquisitions and accuses the writer of the crimes. Wilde steers the hard-drinking marshal to the other members of his tour, including an alcoholic reporter, a slick-talking business manager, a sophisticated countess, a frail valet, a retired Prussian officer and even gunslinger John "Doc" Holliday, who has been following the tour. Wilde and Elizabeth narowly escape being killed by cowboys to whom Wilde's wit is no laughing matter, but the identity of the serial killer is not revealed until the harrowing resolution. One more surprise waits in the wings, and its delivery is just as smooth as those that the playwright himself once put to paper.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Yes, it's Oscar Wilde in the unlikely role of detective, as a trail of dead redheaded prostitutes along his 1882 tour route of the Old West makes it clear that someone in his company (black valet Henry Villiers? shrewd business manager Jack Vail? Countess Mathilde de la M“le? her escort, stolid Prussian Colonel Wolfgang von Hesse? Wilde's poetic disciple Wilbur Ruddick? newspaperman Dave O'Conner?) is a killer. The plot--Wilde steals a few moments from his passionate liaison with titian-haired Elizabeth McCourt Doe (whose powerful fianc‚ Horace Tabor has an unusual attitude toward romantic interlopers) to join besotted federal marshal Bob Grigsby in beating loutish Denver police chief William Greaves to the culprit--isn't up to much, but Wilde sparkles, and Satterthwait's way with historical figures (as in Miss Lizzie, 1989) is easy to take. More like an extended--and marvelously relaxed--dinner party than a detective story, though Doc Holliday, who's been hovering around Wilde since the beginning of the book, provides a lovely last-minute surprise. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0312059973
• ISBN 13: 9780312059972
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 374