false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178806787m/838668.jpg 838668 9 Lucifer Box is the darling of the Edwardian belle monde - society's most fashionable portrait painter is a wit, a dandy, a rake, the guest all hostesses (and not a few hosts) must have. <P> <P>But few know that Lucifer Box is also His Majesty's most accomplished and daring secret agent. Beneath London's faÁade of Imperial grandeur and divine aesthetes seethes an underworld of crazed anarchists, murder, and despicable vice, and Box is at home in both.<P> <P>And so of course when Britain's most prominent scientists begin turning up dead, there is only one man his country can turn to.<P> <P>Lucifer Box ruthlessly deduces and seduces his way from his elegant townhouse at Number 9 Downing Street (all his father left him), to private stews of London and the seediest, most colourful back alleys of Italy, in search of the mighty secret society that may hold the fate of the world in its claw-like hands - the Vesuvius Club.<P> 824241 2004 The Vesuvius Club: A Lucifer Box Novel total:285|5:52|4:101|3:85|2:30|1:17| 285 996 408 61 5 2 true false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 15 15:07:24 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 19 21:42:51 -0800 2007
Act...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 11:19:45 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 27 11:20:23 -0700 2007
If you live in the UK then the chances are that you're familiar with, or have at least heard of, the work of Mark Gatiss. He is an accomplished writer and actor for the stage and television and a look at his IM...more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jun 05 02:52:04 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 05 02:53:44 -0700 2007 The Vesuvius Club is nothing more than a bit of fluff, and in many ways he's right. The characterisation could never be referred to as three-dimensional, the events are cartoonish, and the pacing is off-kilter. That said, I still enjoyed this immensely. It's as if you ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 12 05:07:36 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 05:07:51 -0800 2009
This book is written by one of the people behind “The League of Gentlemen”, which was that si...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 25 03:03:45 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 06 15:28:26 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 16:33:21 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 22:17:09 -0800 2008 ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 02:25:19 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 06:59:15 -0800 2008 1
There’s a distinct, 60’s feel to it all; something to do with the cleverly-copied Aubrey Beardsley, Yellow Book look of the thing and the outrageousness of the rat...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Apr 27 13:00:50 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 08:12:51 -0700 2009 Blood Meridian, a novel that, if I may use this tired device one more time, makes The Proposition look like Lonesome Dove I needed something light, and Gatiss’ first Lucifer Box novel fit the bill perfectly. I don’t want to give anything away but it is a delightful send-up of period pulp s...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Nov 03 03:29:38 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 03:53:29 -0800 2009
I've always liked Mark Gatiss, so it's very nice to see him branch out from League of Gentlemen and into fiction.

Lucifer Box is a Wildean debonair, fop and spy for the British Crown.
Cue whodunnit, flashy characters, luxurious promiscuity and crisp linen sui...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 11 18:06:41 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 25 19:56:19 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 18:06:41 -0700 2009
I liked this a lot. It was a less surreal, more comprehensible, more fun Jerry Cornelius The Final Programme with the funk replaced by victorian sens...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jul 05 07:34:02 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 09:48:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Sep 05 07:43:19 -0700 2007 Tue Dec 18 06:15:20 -0800 2007 Oscar Wilde & James Bond, heavy on the conceit and light on the morals, if you please. A painter who lives at Number Nine Downing Street, "because someone has to", is also one of His Majesty's secret agents. ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Aug 19 13:13:39 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 19 13:14:57 -0700 2007 Gatiss, Mark – Standalone
Simon & Schuster, 2004- UK Hardcover
Lucifer Box is an elegant, bi-sexual rake and a secret service agent who lives at Number Nine Downing Street. When two leading scientists ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 20:19:59 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 21:41:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Feb 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 16:44:55 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 17:51:11 -0800 2009
Good times to all
:O)

...more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu May 21 08:30:14 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 11:38:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 06:49:50 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 06:57:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Feb 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 05:39:36 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 04:07:53 -0800 2009 1 Kyril Bonfiglioli's Charlie Mortdecai.

I expected so much more from Gatiss but with a surfeit of poor Carry On style puns and shocking homosexuality (*gasp*!) seemingly thrown in for eff...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 08 14:32:53 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 14:35:59 -0700 2009 Some very witty writing and laugh out loud moments. It's not compelling enough of a story to care much about the events that unfold, and the jokes are too scarce for it to be a good comedy.]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 11:28:36 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 12:49:53 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=838668