The Marquess of Queensberry: Wilde's Nemesis

Murder by poison alarmed, enthralled, and in many ways encapsulated the Victorian age. Linda Stratmannandrsquo;s dark and splendid social history reveals the nineteenth century as a gruesome battleground where poisoners went head-to-head with authorities who strove to detect poisons, control their availability, and bring the guilty to justice. She corrects many misconceptions about particular poisons and documents how the evolution of issues such as marital rights and the legal protection of children impacted poisonings. Combining archival research with a chemistandrsquo;s expertise and a novelistandrsquo;s eye, Stratmann charts the eraandrsquo;s inexorable rise of poison cases both gruesome and sad.

and#39;A fascinating, challenging defense of the man who caused Oscar Wildeandrsquo;s downfall.and#39;andmdash;Sunday Times

"Deft and diligently researched."and#8212;D J Taylor, Wall Street Journal (Europe)

and#8220;Stratmannand#8217;s deeply researched biography presents a much more nuanced portrait, Queensberry emerging as Dr Jekyll as well as Mr Hyde . . . More than just a biography, this is a brilliant portrait of an age in which homosexuality was beyond the pale, yet public fisticuffs and violent assaults in the streets were part and parcel of normal life . . . An irresistible page-turner, this biography combines high passion, violence, tragedy and farce.and#8221;and#8212;Robert Carver, The Tablet

“This portrait presents compelling new evidence of Queensburys humanity.”—Kirkus

Robert Carver - The Tablet

"Enthralling . . . Far from evil, Queensbury as Stratmann presents him is definitely sympathetic, perhaps even admirable."and#8212;Booklist, starred review

"Aandnbsp;thorough but bleak catalogue of his life."and#8212;Rory Knight Brice, Country Life

"Queensburyand#8212;or Johnandnbsp;Sholto Douglas was a violent bullyandnbsp; and a sadist. Author Linda Stratmann acknowledges these unpleasant characteristics which suggest mental imbalance in her book The Marquess of Queensbury - Wilde's Nemesis which is certain to be popular among Wildean aficianados . . . But Stratmann as apoloist makes a care for tolerance and she certainly gives us a man we had never thought of before."and#8212;Richard Edmonds, The Western Mail

and#8220;Linda Stratmann has written a new biography of the Marquess and his times with valuable information which helps to put the whole complicated chiaroscuro into perspective. This book emphasises aspects of the marquess that have not been dealt with before.and#8221; and#8212;Ulick Oand#8217;Connor, Irish Sunday Independent

"Here he is at last: Wilde's nemesis, pictured in the round. Linda Stratmann gives a complete and compelling portrait of this complex, fearsome and fascinating figure."and#8212;Gyles Brandreth

"We recall the Marquess of Queensberry as one of the great cardboard villains of Victorian cultureand#8212;red-faced, stick-waving, crazed. This book reveals the corporeal man, a free-thinker wracked by comprehensible agonies. Linda Stratmann has analysed the bad blood of the Queensberry family with a haematologistand#8217;s rigour, deepening our understanding of everyone caught up in the Wilde case."and#8212;Matthew Sweet

"Linda Stratmann's superbly researched and masterfully written new biography brings to vivid and compassionate life the story of the mad, bad (and rather sad) John Sholto Douglas, Marquess of Queensberry and nemesis of Oscar Wilde."and#8212;Neil Mckenna, author of The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde

and#8220;This portrait presents compelling new evidence of Queensburyand#8217;s humanity.and#8221;and#8212;Kirkus

and#8216;As one reads, with great enjoyment, this impeccably researched study, one is reminded once again of The Picture of Dorian Gray and the words of the painter, Basil Hallward. 'Every portrait that is painted with feeling', he says, 'is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself.'and#8217;and#8212;Jonathan Barnes, TLS

The Marquess of Queensberry is as famous for his role in the downfall of one of our greatest literary geniuses as he was for helping establish the rules for modern-day boxing. The trial and two-year imprisonment of Oscar Wilde, lover of Queensberry s son, Lord Alfred Douglas, remains one of literary history s great tragedies. However, Linda Stratmann's riveting biography of the Marquess paints a far more complex picture by drawing on new sources and unpublished letters. Throughout his life, Queensberry was emotionally damaged by a series of tragedies, and the events of the Wilde affair told for the first time from the Marquess s perspective were directly linked to Queensberry s personal crises. Through the retelling of pivotal events from Queensberry s life the death of his brother on the Matterhorn and his fruitless search for the body; the suicides of his father, brother, and eldest son the book reveals a well-meaning man often stricken with a grief he found hard to express, who deserves our compassion."

A former chemist, Linda Stratmann is an expert on Victorian crime and the author of several nonfiction books, including Yaleandrsquo;s The Marquess of Queensberry. She lives in London.