Sherlock Holmes and the Mysterious Friend of Oscar Wilde

I wanted so badly to like this novel. It's a brilliant concept. Bringing Sherlock Holmes and Oscar Wilde together and letting the fireworks entertain and dazzle us. But somehow this novel falls short of my expectations.

The plotting is competent; the historic details seem authentic without being

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obtrusive. The character of Watson is particularly well drawn, but Holmes and Wilde stumble over their own dialogue. In an attempt to invest these two extraordinary speakers with the power of their own words, I think Brown lost the characters. Wilde is too witty, too sardonic, and Holmes relies too much on things he has said in past adventures. The two characters are too buried under their own quotes and references to breathe and, as a result, the novel suffers.

Worth the read for diehard fans or Wilde or Holmes or both, but if you have not read Wilde or Arthur Conan Doyle's work, start there.

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