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Irene Adler #1
Good Night, Mr. Holmes
Irene Adler “has a soul of steel...the face of the most beautiful of women and the mind of the most resolute of men.”
When American aspiring opera singer Irene Adler rescues orphaned parson’s daughter Penelope Huxleigh from a London cutpurse, it starts a crime-solving alliance as strong as that of Holmes and Watson. Irene moonlights as a private inquiry agent while awaiting her career break, which brings her into the orbits of such luminaries as Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker and puts her on the trail on Marie Antoinette’s fabulous lost diamond belt. A prestigious assignment as prima donna at the Prague opera house almost makes Irene the Queen of Bohemia, but a royal murder and caddish Prince force her to flee back to London...where she will become the only woman to outwit Sherlock Holmes.
When American aspiring opera singer Irene Adler rescues orphaned parson’s daughter Penelope Huxleigh from a London cutpurse, it starts a crime-solving alliance as strong as that of Holmes and Watson. Irene moonlights as a private inquiry agent while awaiting her career break, which brings her into the orbits of such luminaries as Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker and puts her on the trail on Marie Antoinette’s fabulous lost diamond belt. A prestigious assignment as prima donna at the Prague opera house almost makes Irene the Queen of Bohemia, but a royal murder and caddish Prince force her to flee back to London...where she will become the only woman to outwit Sherlock Holmes.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1990
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3636 people want to read
About the author
Carole Nelson Douglas
168 books567 followersCarole Nelson Douglas is the author of sixty-four award-winning novels in contemporary and historical mystery/suspense and romance, high and urban fantasy and science fiction genres. She is best known for two popular mystery series, the Irene Adler Sherlockian historical suspense series (she was the first woman to spin-off a series from the Holmes stories) and the multi-award-winning alphabetically titled Midnight Louie contemporary mystery series. From Cat in an Alphabet Soup #1 to Cat in an Alphabet Endgame #28.
Delilah Street, PI (Paranormal Investigator), headlines Carole's noir Urban Fantasy series: Dancing With Werewolves, Brimstone Kiss, Vampire Sunrise, Silver Zombie, and Virtual Virgin. Now Delilah has moved from her paranormal Vegas to Midnight Louie, feline PI's "Slightly surreal" Vegas to solve crimes in the first book of the new Cafe Noir series, Absinthe Without Leave. Next in 2020, Brandi Alexander on the Rocks.
Once Upon a Midnight Noir is out in eBook and trade paperback versions. This author-designed and illustrated collection of three mystery stories with a paranormal twist and a touch of romance features two award-winning stories featuring Midnight Louie, feline PI and Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator in a supernatural-run Las Vegas. A third story completes the last unfinished story fragment of Edgar Allan Poe, as a Midnight Louie Past Life adventure set in 1790 Norland on a isolated island lighthouse. Louie is a soldier of fortune, a la Puss in Boots.
Next out are Midnight Louie's Cat in an Alphabet Endgame in hardcover, trade paperback and eBook Aug. 23, 2016.
All the Irene Adler novels, the first to feature a woman from the Sherlock Holmes Canon as a crime solver, are now available in eBook.
Carole was a college theater and English literature major. She was accepted for grad school in Theater at the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University, and could have worked as an editorial assistant at Vogue magazine (a la The Devil Wears Prada) but wanted a job closer to home. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then editor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. During her time there, she discovered a long, expensive classified advertisement offering a black cat named Midnight Louey to the "right" home for one dollar and wrote a feature story on the plucky survival artist, putting it into the cat's point of view. The cat found a country home, but its name was revived for her feline PI mystery series many years later. Some of the Midnight Louie series entries include the dedication "For the real and original Midnight Louie. Nine lives were not enough." Midnight Louie has now had 32 novelistic lives and features in several short stories as well.
Hollywood and Broadway director, playwright, screenwriter and novelist Garson Kanin took Carole's first novel to his publisher on the basis of an interview/article she'd done with him five years earlier. "My friend Phil Silvers," he wrote, "would say he'd never won an interview yet, but he had never had the luck of you."
Carole is a "literary chameleon" who's had novels published in many genres, and often mixes such genre elements as mystery and suspense, fantasy and science fiction, romance with mainstream issues, especially the roles of women.
Delilah Street, PI (Paranormal Investigator), headlines Carole's noir Urban Fantasy series: Dancing With Werewolves, Brimstone Kiss, Vampire Sunrise, Silver Zombie, and Virtual Virgin. Now Delilah has moved from her paranormal Vegas to Midnight Louie, feline PI's "Slightly surreal" Vegas to solve crimes in the first book of the new Cafe Noir series, Absinthe Without Leave. Next in 2020, Brandi Alexander on the Rocks.
Once Upon a Midnight Noir is out in eBook and trade paperback versions. This author-designed and illustrated collection of three mystery stories with a paranormal twist and a touch of romance features two award-winning stories featuring Midnight Louie, feline PI and Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator in a supernatural-run Las Vegas. A third story completes the last unfinished story fragment of Edgar Allan Poe, as a Midnight Louie Past Life adventure set in 1790 Norland on a isolated island lighthouse. Louie is a soldier of fortune, a la Puss in Boots.
Next out are Midnight Louie's Cat in an Alphabet Endgame in hardcover, trade paperback and eBook Aug. 23, 2016.
All the Irene Adler novels, the first to feature a woman from the Sherlock Holmes Canon as a crime solver, are now available in eBook.
Carole was a college theater and English literature major. She was accepted for grad school in Theater at the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University, and could have worked as an editorial assistant at Vogue magazine (a la The Devil Wears Prada) but wanted a job closer to home. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then editor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. During her time there, she discovered a long, expensive classified advertisement offering a black cat named Midnight Louey to the "right" home for one dollar and wrote a feature story on the plucky survival artist, putting it into the cat's point of view. The cat found a country home, but its name was revived for her feline PI mystery series many years later. Some of the Midnight Louie series entries include the dedication "For the real and original Midnight Louie. Nine lives were not enough." Midnight Louie has now had 32 novelistic lives and features in several short stories as well.
Hollywood and Broadway director, playwright, screenwriter and novelist Garson Kanin took Carole's first novel to his publisher on the basis of an interview/article she'd done with him five years earlier. "My friend Phil Silvers," he wrote, "would say he'd never won an interview yet, but he had never had the luck of you."
Carole is a "literary chameleon" who's had novels published in many genres, and often mixes such genre elements as mystery and suspense, fantasy and science fiction, romance with mainstream issues, especially the roles of women.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
March 5, 2017
I couldn't finish. I hate, HATE not finishing a book I've started and rarely review them, but I start this at the beginning of December and it's now the end of April, and it deserves something for all my effort. Have a gold red star.
You know, I understand the fascination with Irene Adler. Holes never showed canonical interest in her but was miffed he was outsmarted by a woman--and she's smart. But Irene is only half the story in this book.
Like Holmes has Watson, Irene has Nell, an unrelated acquaintance-turned-friend-slash-biographer. Watson worked because his temperament was a good complement to Holmes, and he was handy in a fight, among other things. Nell is a frightened parson's daughter scared of everyone and everything and doesn't really have a use, except that Irene likes her the way you'd like a very intelligent pet.
At the point I had to quit, which was roughly halfway through, the story is more about Nell than Irene. NO. I picked this up because it promised a good mystery. Instead I'm treated to something about "oh these missing historical diamonds might be around here somewhere but instead we're going to have Irene fall in love with a prince and let Nell be scandalized at everything while she learns how to type and let's not forget that Nell is scandalized by everything."
Even the Irene parts aren't interesting. She's flighty and less polished than Holmes--it makes sense, she's not a professional detective, but at the same time the book feels too much like a set-up, not enough actual story, never mind the mystery.
Neither Irene nor Nell have enough personality to be good characters on their own, and combining them as a team doesn't mean that suddenly those flaws go away.
I had such high hopes for this. It was supposed to tie into A Scandal in Bohemia, and I like stories about girls/women, but it spends so much time going absolutely nowhere. I don't care if the second half of the book is where everything starts to make sense. If it take TWO-HUNDRED PAGES before the actual story I was promised starts, then NO.
I mean, think about the first Holmes story (A Study in Scarlet): it begins with an introduction to our narrator (Watson) and his backstory, then how he meets, rooms with, and begins to get to know Holmes. Then the mystery starts. The entire thing is interesting and informative without being an info-dump. Moreover, the start of the mystery doesn't signal the end of getting to know the characters that make the story so enjoyable: everything is worked in together for one cohesive storyline.
This book starts similarly: we get an introduction to Penelope Huxleigh, or narrator, and an understand of how she comes to a position to meet Irene. We meet Irene. They move in together and Nell starts to figure Irene out. So far, so good.
But then, it fails. Irene does this...but then Irene does this other thing completely unrelated. And instead of a single story we have the vague notion that we might come back to Plot A but in the meantime we have Minor Plots B and C to work around and also Plotlike Things D and E Which May Not be Relevant to Anything Because Is This Book About Anything Anymore?
If the book is about Irene (which it is) then there needs to be more of her--very rarely do I really dislike a non-antagonist character, but Nell is just insufferable--and if there's more Irene, then it needs to be relevant. In real life, yes, you might start something but then have this rabbit trail and that thing completely unrelated, but this is a story and needs to have a linear plot. It starts to read like a "dear diary, today Irene did this. Dear diary, today Irene did this other scandalous thing. Dear diary, this is completely unrelated."
I just don't know. There's not enough mystery for it to be a mystery. But there's not nearly enough romance to put it in that category (thank goodness). There's not enough story of any sort to justify the paper.
You know, I understand the fascination with Irene Adler. Holes never showed canonical interest in her but was miffed he was outsmarted by a woman--and she's smart. But Irene is only half the story in this book.
Like Holmes has Watson, Irene has Nell, an unrelated acquaintance-turned-friend-slash-biographer. Watson worked because his temperament was a good complement to Holmes, and he was handy in a fight, among other things. Nell is a frightened parson's daughter scared of everyone and everything and doesn't really have a use, except that Irene likes her the way you'd like a very intelligent pet.
At the point I had to quit, which was roughly halfway through, the story is more about Nell than Irene. NO. I picked this up because it promised a good mystery. Instead I'm treated to something about "oh these missing historical diamonds might be around here somewhere but instead we're going to have Irene fall in love with a prince and let Nell be scandalized at everything while she learns how to type and let's not forget that Nell is scandalized by everything."
Even the Irene parts aren't interesting. She's flighty and less polished than Holmes--it makes sense, she's not a professional detective, but at the same time the book feels too much like a set-up, not enough actual story, never mind the mystery.
Neither Irene nor Nell have enough personality to be good characters on their own, and combining them as a team doesn't mean that suddenly those flaws go away.
I had such high hopes for this. It was supposed to tie into A Scandal in Bohemia, and I like stories about girls/women, but it spends so much time going absolutely nowhere. I don't care if the second half of the book is where everything starts to make sense. If it take TWO-HUNDRED PAGES before the actual story I was promised starts, then NO.
I mean, think about the first Holmes story (A Study in Scarlet): it begins with an introduction to our narrator (Watson) and his backstory, then how he meets, rooms with, and begins to get to know Holmes. Then the mystery starts. The entire thing is interesting and informative without being an info-dump. Moreover, the start of the mystery doesn't signal the end of getting to know the characters that make the story so enjoyable: everything is worked in together for one cohesive storyline.
This book starts similarly: we get an introduction to Penelope Huxleigh, or narrator, and an understand of how she comes to a position to meet Irene. We meet Irene. They move in together and Nell starts to figure Irene out. So far, so good.
But then, it fails. Irene does this...but then Irene does this other thing completely unrelated. And instead of a single story we have the vague notion that we might come back to Plot A but in the meantime we have Minor Plots B and C to work around and also Plotlike Things D and E Which May Not be Relevant to Anything Because Is This Book About Anything Anymore?
If the book is about Irene (which it is) then there needs to be more of her--very rarely do I really dislike a non-antagonist character, but Nell is just insufferable--and if there's more Irene, then it needs to be relevant. In real life, yes, you might start something but then have this rabbit trail and that thing completely unrelated, but this is a story and needs to have a linear plot. It starts to read like a "dear diary, today Irene did this. Dear diary, today Irene did this other scandalous thing. Dear diary, this is completely unrelated."
I just don't know. There's not enough mystery for it to be a mystery. But there's not nearly enough romance to put it in that category (thank goodness). There's not enough story of any sort to justify the paper.
February 24, 2012
So to preface this with a disclaimer: I am the kind of person who is planning to get an Irene Adler tattoo. So there's that.
This is a really fun pastiche. It's not serious, it never tries to be, and it revels in being just a shade over the line of 'absurd'. Notably, it's also very Holmes-lite; the focus is strongly on Irene and her female Watson stand-in Penelope, and later, her canonical husband Godfrey Norton. Which leads me to one of my favourite things about this pastiche: it's basically a story about women being friends, despite being grossly different people at times. And Penelope is definitely her own character, flawed and frequently frustrating, rather than simply an insipid Watson clone.
The story fleshes out A Scandal in Bohemia and adds some interesting little puzzles to the backdrop of it all, and none of it is really thrilling or amazing but it's good for a laugh. Irene as a character is quite strongly non-canonical and yet not totally out-there when it comes to how she's written, and she's certainly interesting.
The prose is perfectly serviceable, though the author seems to have a period dress fetish.
Overall, it's worth taking a look if you want a less 'serious' Holmes pastiche than the usual.
This is a really fun pastiche. It's not serious, it never tries to be, and it revels in being just a shade over the line of 'absurd'. Notably, it's also very Holmes-lite; the focus is strongly on Irene and her female Watson stand-in Penelope, and later, her canonical husband Godfrey Norton. Which leads me to one of my favourite things about this pastiche: it's basically a story about women being friends, despite being grossly different people at times. And Penelope is definitely her own character, flawed and frequently frustrating, rather than simply an insipid Watson clone.
The story fleshes out A Scandal in Bohemia and adds some interesting little puzzles to the backdrop of it all, and none of it is really thrilling or amazing but it's good for a laugh. Irene as a character is quite strongly non-canonical and yet not totally out-there when it comes to how she's written, and she's certainly interesting.
The prose is perfectly serviceable, though the author seems to have a period dress fetish.
Overall, it's worth taking a look if you want a less 'serious' Holmes pastiche than the usual.
August 6, 2019
***2019 The Summer of Sherlock***
3.5 stars
I must confess that I went into this mystery not expecting very much and I was pleasantly surprised. I checked out the author’s biography after finishing this novel and found that she has published over 60 books, so I guess that I shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was. This was a decent mystery story, but I have to ask myself why someone who can write this well feels it necessary to include the Irene Adler/Sherlock Holmes aspect to their novel?? Ms. Nelson Douglas must be a true fan of the Holmes stories.
Once again, we have a modern female author taking a female character that Conan Doyle didn’t spend much time on, and giving her her own backstory and fleshing out her motivations. I can definitely see why Irene Adler (“the woman”) would be a tempting target for this treatment.
However, I found my sympathies lying much more with Penelope Huxtaible, Irene’s room-mate and partner in investigation. Nell, as Irene calls her, is an impoverished orphaned parson’s daughter and reminded me strongly of Jane Eyre, with her ideas of propriety and morality. She very much fills a John Watson-like role, recording Irene’s adventures. I know enough Sherlock Holmes lore to realize that Irene would end up married to Godfrey Norton, but I couldn’t help, in this version, wishing that he would choose Penelope instead. Sadly, the author stuck to the canon in this regard.
I loved Irene’s and Nell’s independent ways--supporting themselves quite well and avoiding dependence upon men in the beginning. Godfrey ruins them both by being a wonderful employer to Nell and eventually husband to Irene. In between, Irene has her fling with the Crown Prince of Bohemia and Nell provides the description of the relationship’s ending. Despite knowing how things would turn out, it was a tense, exciting portion of the book.
Opinion seems to be all over the map on this one, but I found that the author managed to insert enough novelty into an old story to make it enjoyable.
3.5 stars
I must confess that I went into this mystery not expecting very much and I was pleasantly surprised. I checked out the author’s biography after finishing this novel and found that she has published over 60 books, so I guess that I shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was. This was a decent mystery story, but I have to ask myself why someone who can write this well feels it necessary to include the Irene Adler/Sherlock Holmes aspect to their novel?? Ms. Nelson Douglas must be a true fan of the Holmes stories.
Once again, we have a modern female author taking a female character that Conan Doyle didn’t spend much time on, and giving her her own backstory and fleshing out her motivations. I can definitely see why Irene Adler (“the woman”) would be a tempting target for this treatment.
However, I found my sympathies lying much more with Penelope Huxtaible, Irene’s room-mate and partner in investigation. Nell, as Irene calls her, is an impoverished orphaned parson’s daughter and reminded me strongly of Jane Eyre, with her ideas of propriety and morality. She very much fills a John Watson-like role, recording Irene’s adventures. I know enough Sherlock Holmes lore to realize that Irene would end up married to Godfrey Norton, but I couldn’t help, in this version, wishing that he would choose Penelope instead. Sadly, the author stuck to the canon in this regard.
I loved Irene’s and Nell’s independent ways--supporting themselves quite well and avoiding dependence upon men in the beginning. Godfrey ruins them both by being a wonderful employer to Nell and eventually husband to Irene. In between, Irene has her fling with the Crown Prince of Bohemia and Nell provides the description of the relationship’s ending. Despite knowing how things would turn out, it was a tense, exciting portion of the book.
Opinion seems to be all over the map on this one, but I found that the author managed to insert enough novelty into an old story to make it enjoyable.
December 20, 2009
While the Holmes/Watson pieces are quite well written, most of Irene Adler's detection work is driven by fortunate coincidence. There is far too much babbling about clothes, Adler's assistant must be one of the most irritating sidekicks I have ever come across and the pair of them are unbearably smug whenever they perceive they get one over on Holmes.
March 25, 2025
Delightful!
Amazing level of attention and respect paid to the Holmes canon, and to cultural history of the 1880s.
I loved the cameos from Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker and their wives, as well as Dvorak and the emerging Czech cultural renaissance.
Also, in Miss Huxleigh, the author has given Irene Adler a Dr Watson-type offsider with just the right balance of humility, wry observation, and affection.
I was particularly overjoyed at the subtextual romance between Irene and Godfrey, both such powerful personalities, and the lovely friendship between the three of them. The whole backstory of the King of Bohemia was superbly handled, in my opinion, as was the dynamic with Holmes himself.
The more I think of it, the more amazed I am that Douglas was able to fashion a novel from the underside of Conan Doyle’s short story, adding an epic backstory with a satisfying character arc while being so true to the source material.
I’ll be looking for physical copies of these.
Content warning: innuendoes, mostly regarding false assumptions about Irene’s personal life.
Amazing level of attention and respect paid to the Holmes canon, and to cultural history of the 1880s.
I loved the cameos from Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker and their wives, as well as Dvorak and the emerging Czech cultural renaissance.
Also, in Miss Huxleigh, the author has given Irene Adler a Dr Watson-type offsider with just the right balance of humility, wry observation, and affection.
I was particularly overjoyed at the subtextual romance between Irene and Godfrey, both such powerful personalities, and the lovely friendship between the three of them. The whole backstory of the King of Bohemia was superbly handled, in my opinion, as was the dynamic with Holmes himself.
The more I think of it, the more amazed I am that Douglas was able to fashion a novel from the underside of Conan Doyle’s short story, adding an epic backstory with a satisfying character arc while being so true to the source material.
I’ll be looking for physical copies of these.
Content warning: innuendoes, mostly regarding false assumptions about Irene’s personal life.
January 16, 2010
Let me start by admitting that I enjoy Sherlock Holmes, but I am not a Holmesian. I think the actual canon is pretty good, occasionally great, and that Doyle showed rather too plainly his growing dissatisfaction with the series. What Doyle DID do right was create an unforgettable character, an icon, one that writers today would KILL for. Holmes is a character that has survived numerous movie and TV shows, including a cartoon, and inspired literally hundreds of writers to try their hand at a new spin on the old stories. (One of my favorites from last year was Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space for the amazing creativity it contained.)
I loved the IDEA for this book. Take The Woman, Irene Adler from "A Scandal in Bohemia," the one female Holmes seemed to consider a worthy adversary, and tell her story. The trouble is that the story the writer tells is just not up to the idea. Irene is unconventional, brave, intelligent, and resourceful. So why is she wasted in this romantic meandering that only occasionally involves any real mystery and treats Holmes as a bit player? The idea seemed to be to present Irene as a female counterpart to Holmes. To that end, she has a mysterious past, like his, that same ability to 'deduce' from the clues at hand, an urge to solve mysteries, and a stuffy, conventional sidekick. (I may be doing Watson a disservice here. Penelope Huxleigh is amazingly insipid and uninteresting. At least Watson had something of a life.)
I kept at it, waiting for the fatal meeting between the two, but wound up embroiled in Bohemia, where Irene is protecting her virtue by declining an offer to be the new king's mistress. Come on. Not buying it. So I gave up and never got to see what happened when Adler and Holmes finally met.
What really bugs me is that this series means that someone else can't use the same great idea - the story of Irene Adler - and turn it into something really WORTH reading. Don't bother.
I loved the IDEA for this book. Take The Woman, Irene Adler from "A Scandal in Bohemia," the one female Holmes seemed to consider a worthy adversary, and tell her story. The trouble is that the story the writer tells is just not up to the idea. Irene is unconventional, brave, intelligent, and resourceful. So why is she wasted in this romantic meandering that only occasionally involves any real mystery and treats Holmes as a bit player? The idea seemed to be to present Irene as a female counterpart to Holmes. To that end, she has a mysterious past, like his, that same ability to 'deduce' from the clues at hand, an urge to solve mysteries, and a stuffy, conventional sidekick. (I may be doing Watson a disservice here. Penelope Huxleigh is amazingly insipid and uninteresting. At least Watson had something of a life.)
I kept at it, waiting for the fatal meeting between the two, but wound up embroiled in Bohemia, where Irene is protecting her virtue by declining an offer to be the new king's mistress. Come on. Not buying it. So I gave up and never got to see what happened when Adler and Holmes finally met.
What really bugs me is that this series means that someone else can't use the same great idea - the story of Irene Adler - and turn it into something really WORTH reading. Don't bother.
October 10, 2008
The first in the series followed by
Good Morning Irene (The Adventuress)
"Parris Greene" (short story)
Irene at Large (A Soul of Steel)
This a story interwoven with the Holmsian story about the one woman, Irene Adler, who could match Holmes, hence, she intrigued him as no other could. Adler also has her faithful chronicler, Nell Huxleigh, who is a capable companion but not quite able to match Adler's nimble mind.
The intrigue and period stereotypes are appropriate. Adler is a competent woman faced with fitting in but still getting her own outlet to use her abilities. She does less of the sleuthing and is focused on using that simply as a stepping stone to become the leading lady of the operatic stage.
Nearly led astray by the King of Bohemia, Adler's story winds closest to the original short story in the ending chapters. Luck native wit, and the assistance of friends not known to Holmes allow this story o effectively alter Adler's character from the one portrayed by the King of Bohemia as mud slung as a political cover-up.
Series titles
Works:
* Good Night, Mr. Holmes (1990)
* Good Morning, Irene (1991)
* Parris Green (1992)
* Adventuress, the (1992)
* Irene At Large (1992)
* Irene's Last Waltz (1994)
* Another Scandal in Bohemia (1994)
* Dracula on the Rocks (1995)
* Thief of Twelfth Night, the (1996)
* Baker Street Irregular, a (1998)
* Mesmerizing Bertie (1998)
* Chapel Noir (2001)
* Femme Fatale (2003)
Good Morning Irene (The Adventuress)
"Parris Greene" (short story)
Irene at Large (A Soul of Steel)
This a story interwoven with the Holmsian story about the one woman, Irene Adler, who could match Holmes, hence, she intrigued him as no other could. Adler also has her faithful chronicler, Nell Huxleigh, who is a capable companion but not quite able to match Adler's nimble mind.
The intrigue and period stereotypes are appropriate. Adler is a competent woman faced with fitting in but still getting her own outlet to use her abilities. She does less of the sleuthing and is focused on using that simply as a stepping stone to become the leading lady of the operatic stage.
Nearly led astray by the King of Bohemia, Adler's story winds closest to the original short story in the ending chapters. Luck native wit, and the assistance of friends not known to Holmes allow this story o effectively alter Adler's character from the one portrayed by the King of Bohemia as mud slung as a political cover-up.
Series titles
Works:
* Good Night, Mr. Holmes (1990)
* Good Morning, Irene (1991)
* Parris Green (1992)
* Adventuress, the (1992)
* Irene At Large (1992)
* Irene's Last Waltz (1994)
* Another Scandal in Bohemia (1994)
* Dracula on the Rocks (1995)
* Thief of Twelfth Night, the (1996)
* Baker Street Irregular, a (1998)
* Mesmerizing Bertie (1998)
* Chapel Noir (2001)
* Femme Fatale (2003)
March 15, 2017
I loved it! Great characters, great plot. Terrific humor!
If you always cared for Irene Adler, this is a must read, even if you never read another book in the series.
If you always cared for Irene Adler, this is a must read, even if you never read another book in the series.
March 1, 2025
It went on and on seemingly with no end.
Alas! It finally did end.
I loved the start of what will be a good companion to Sherlock Holmes’ adventures.
I did not like that editor fell asleep on the job before cutting out about 150 pages.
Alas! It finally did end.
I loved the start of what will be a good companion to Sherlock Holmes’ adventures.
I did not like that editor fell asleep on the job before cutting out about 150 pages.
February 16, 2017
My all time favorite detective series. Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the character of Irene Adler in "A Scandal in Bohemia". Irene shows up in a number of modern rewrites of Sherlock Holmes but almost everyone gets the character wrong. The TV series with Benedict Cumberbatch casts Irene as a modern day dominatrix who's a little too eager to beat people with her riding crop. In the Robert Downey Jr. movies, Irene is a hired hand for criminals and a sexual minx.
Both of those portrayals are wrong. In the original story, Irene is Holmes's equal--an accomplished opera singer and inquiry agent who crosses swords with a king and comes out the winner. Irene is not a woman for sale and to Holmes she is always "The Woman" who wins his admiration and (maybe) his love.
Douglas' series about Irene Adler is the best rethinking of this character where Irene, an aspiring opera singer from America, seeks her fortune in Britain after acquiring a Dr. Watson of her own--Nell the daughter of a Shropshire vicar who is as observant as Irene and much more educated in the ways of propriety. Together they solve crimes and outwit the famous Mr. Holmes.
This is the perfect series about two female detectives more advanced than the times they are living in.
Highly recommended.
Both of those portrayals are wrong. In the original story, Irene is Holmes's equal--an accomplished opera singer and inquiry agent who crosses swords with a king and comes out the winner. Irene is not a woman for sale and to Holmes she is always "The Woman" who wins his admiration and (maybe) his love.
Douglas' series about Irene Adler is the best rethinking of this character where Irene, an aspiring opera singer from America, seeks her fortune in Britain after acquiring a Dr. Watson of her own--Nell the daughter of a Shropshire vicar who is as observant as Irene and much more educated in the ways of propriety. Together they solve crimes and outwit the famous Mr. Holmes.
This is the perfect series about two female detectives more advanced than the times they are living in.
Highly recommended.
April 30, 2022
week, rambling, trying too hard to catch the atmosphere and language of the time instead of moving the plot. I read on until I felt that this book just didn't justify the effort. will not continue the series.
February 24, 2012
"Goodnight, Mr Holmes" (Irene Adler 1) by Carole Nelson Douglas, is the parting line of Irene, disguised, mocking Holmes' pursuit during "Scandal in Bohemia". Coda has imitation research. Extras are okay reader's guide and interview. Douglas sticks to the bones of Doyle, yet gives another side and back story.
Set in the same London 1890s with similar tone and vocabulary, Watson gives prelude and other chapters. Mostly country parson's orphan Penelope Huxleigh takes the role differently of narrator, supporter, and flatmate. She helps dig, but can't shoot. Both refer to otherwise unreferenced cases. Throwing in writers Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, composer Dvorak may add versimilitude; they could be anyone. Humor is light. Nell can be a drag and annoying priss. Perhaps the lack of chase or combat leaves me unenthusiastic yet content overall and a tad curious for more.
Jeweller Mr Tiffany (also lamps) separately hires Holmes and Adler to find dead Marie Antoinette's lost "cincture" girdle of diamonds, that encircled her 23" waist to the floor, in a parallel, unifying, clever side plot.Irene nicknames Nell, picks her up penniless, feeds her and takes her home. Nell seems to learn more from Irene than vice versa. For five years, Irene pursues a career in opera, with side investigations, until the Prince of Bohemia beckons. Irene writes for Nell
(Spoiler:
she suspects the King is dying of poison. I thought Nell had a crush on her handsome employer barrister Godfrey Norton. After Irene gives her more confidence, Nell types for Norton to contribute income. Yet in the epilogue, Irene takes her in again. Marriage is the satisfying conclusion prescribed by Doyle, for an independent yet passionate woman ahead of her time.)
Set in the same London 1890s with similar tone and vocabulary, Watson gives prelude and other chapters. Mostly country parson's orphan Penelope Huxleigh takes the role differently of narrator, supporter, and flatmate. She helps dig, but can't shoot. Both refer to otherwise unreferenced cases. Throwing in writers Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, composer Dvorak may add versimilitude; they could be anyone. Humor is light. Nell can be a drag and annoying priss. Perhaps the lack of chase or combat leaves me unenthusiastic yet content overall and a tad curious for more.
Jeweller Mr Tiffany (also lamps) separately hires Holmes and Adler to find dead Marie Antoinette's lost "cincture" girdle of diamonds, that encircled her 23" waist to the floor, in a parallel, unifying, clever side plot.Irene nicknames Nell, picks her up penniless, feeds her and takes her home. Nell seems to learn more from Irene than vice versa. For five years, Irene pursues a career in opera, with side investigations, until the Prince of Bohemia beckons. Irene writes for Nell
(Spoiler:
she suspects the King is dying of poison. I thought Nell had a crush on her handsome employer barrister Godfrey Norton. After Irene gives her more confidence, Nell types for Norton to contribute income. Yet in the epilogue, Irene takes her in again. Marriage is the satisfying conclusion prescribed by Doyle, for an independent yet passionate woman ahead of her time.)
June 10, 2012
I really, really loved this book. Irene Adler was one of my favorite characters from the original Holmes stories. I like how it's written from her companion's viewpoint, much as the Holmes stories were written from Watson's.
The entire series will be on my bookshelf for years to come.
The entire series will be on my bookshelf for years to come.
abandoned-dnf
May 16, 2023Made it to 45%, and decided to move on to books I might enjoy. No hope for this one. There is very little mystery in a book you expect to be a mystery. It's not even really about Irene Adler. It's about her boring sidekick. Good night, boring sidekick.
March 13, 2019
Love this book. I will try to find the rest of books in this series.
April 15, 2025
Nelson Douglas' version of Irene Adler is very cool. She's every bit as smart and a rival for Holmes as Conan Doyle made her out to be, but she's not just a female version of him. She's self-absorbed like he is, but not arrogant. She's kind, if often thoughtless.
Her "Watson" (in the sense that she's always in Adler's shadow, chronicling her adventures) is Penelope Huxleigh, another smart, resourceful character, just not as naturally gifted as Adler. I enjoyed spending time with both women and at 400 pages, the novel makes sure we get plenty of time.
It also covers a long period of time within the story itself. The novel begins sometime around A Study in Scarlet and ends with Adler and Huxleigh's perspective on "A Scandal in Bohemia." That's fun, but so much time passes that it's tough to maintain a plot.
The historical jeweler Charles Tiffany hires both Adler and Holmes (independently of each other) to find missing diamonds from Marie Antoinette's collection, so that's the primary mystery of the book, but there's no urgency in the case. Both Adler and Holmes will spend some time on the case, hit a dead end, and the next thing you know, months have passed and seasons have changed. I was never bored; it's just not the compelling mystery story I wanted.
The story becomes more suspenseful when Adler meets the Prince of Bohemia and we start to see events heading toward the "Scandal." There's even a short murder mystery that needs solving during this part. And for those familiar with the Conan Doyle short story, it's fun to see events unfold that Holmes and Watson weren't able to witness.
All in all, it's an entertaining book, just not much of a mystery.
Her "Watson" (in the sense that she's always in Adler's shadow, chronicling her adventures) is Penelope Huxleigh, another smart, resourceful character, just not as naturally gifted as Adler. I enjoyed spending time with both women and at 400 pages, the novel makes sure we get plenty of time.
It also covers a long period of time within the story itself. The novel begins sometime around A Study in Scarlet and ends with Adler and Huxleigh's perspective on "A Scandal in Bohemia." That's fun, but so much time passes that it's tough to maintain a plot.
The historical jeweler Charles Tiffany hires both Adler and Holmes (independently of each other) to find missing diamonds from Marie Antoinette's collection, so that's the primary mystery of the book, but there's no urgency in the case. Both Adler and Holmes will spend some time on the case, hit a dead end, and the next thing you know, months have passed and seasons have changed. I was never bored; it's just not the compelling mystery story I wanted.
The story becomes more suspenseful when Adler meets the Prince of Bohemia and we start to see events heading toward the "Scandal." There's even a short murder mystery that needs solving during this part. And for those familiar with the Conan Doyle short story, it's fun to see events unfold that Holmes and Watson weren't able to witness.
All in all, it's an entertaining book, just not much of a mystery.
March 30, 2021
3,5 za przesadne uwielbienie autorki dla stworzonej bohaterki. Ileż można się zachwycać zaletami Irene?
Nie wiem, czy to tylko ja, ale przez całą książkę miałam wrażenie, że czytam nie tę część, co trzeba, jakby coś zostało nie do końca wyjaśnione od samego początku (sprawdzałam trzy razy, czy to na pewno pierwszy tom).
Ogólnie jednak bardzo dobrze się bawiłam przy tej książce. Gratka dla fanów Sherlocka Holmesa;l
Nie wiem, czy to tylko ja, ale przez całą książkę miałam wrażenie, że czytam nie tę część, co trzeba, jakby coś zostało nie do końca wyjaśnione od samego początku (sprawdzałam trzy razy, czy to na pewno pierwszy tom).
Ogólnie jednak bardzo dobrze się bawiłam przy tej książce. Gratka dla fanów Sherlocka Holmesa;l
May 7, 2025
Boken börjar med en lite småspännande idé: hur vore det om Irene Adler var exakt det som hon utgav sig för att vara, snarare än en lätt förklädd Lola Montez? Det är inte alls en dålig idé, men tyvärr håller inte själva hantverket.
October 31, 2013
This parallels a Scandal in Bohemia, starting a few years earlier with the association of the narrator Nell with Irene Adler, going on to describe Adler's adventures from the perspective of the protagonist rather than the object of someone else's story. The book starts off a bit slow and some of the themes were kind of clumsily handled* in the first 25-30% of the book, but it builds into a pretty satisfying ending that both ties up the canonical adventure and an additional original mystery rather nicely. Not a masterpiece, but diverting enough and enough to make me want to look up the next book in the series.
Main gripe, a gypsy [sic] fortune-teller who foretells the identity of her eventual beloved, a man whose identity that the reader knows both from A Scandal in Bohemia and from his earlier presence in the book, only to have both Irene and Nell go "but who could it be?!?!?!" Come on.
*I'm told that this is a later rewrite of the book in which the feminist themes that were present-but-subtle in the first version were dropped on the reader's head like an anvil. Anyone who knows me knows that I am certainly neeeeeeever going to ding a book for being too feminist, but I dislike it when morality is delivered at the expense of the flow and rhythm of a story, and would've preferred a subtler hand.
Main gripe, a gypsy [sic] fortune-teller who foretells the identity of her eventual beloved, a man whose identity that the reader knows both from A Scandal in Bohemia and from his earlier presence in the book, only to have both Irene and Nell go "but who could it be?!?!?!" Come on.
*I'm told that this is a later rewrite of the book in which the feminist themes that were present-but-subtle in the first version were dropped on the reader's head like an anvil. Anyone who knows me knows that I am certainly neeeeeeever going to ding a book for being too feminist, but I dislike it when morality is delivered at the expense of the flow and rhythm of a story, and would've preferred a subtler hand.
July 10, 2011
"To him she was always the Woman." The woman that dear Watson speaks of is of course Irene Adler, Holmes worthy opponet from "A Scandel in Bohemia." Now her side of the story can finally be told.
Sherlock Holmes is really just a background character in this novel detailing the Irene's musical and detective career. Irene's adventure's are recorded by her faithful Boswell Nell Huxliegh.
The episodic nature of the memoire is tied together by Irene's continuing search for "The Zone of Dimonds" a dimond belt formily of the french crown jewles but lost after the Revolution. Both she and Sherlock are convinced that the Zone resides in London somewhere.
The characters are engaging but do come of as kind of like a female Holmes and Watson. But for the true Holmes enthusist that might not be a bad thing.
Sherlock Holmes is really just a background character in this novel detailing the Irene's musical and detective career. Irene's adventure's are recorded by her faithful Boswell Nell Huxliegh.
The episodic nature of the memoire is tied together by Irene's continuing search for "The Zone of Dimonds" a dimond belt formily of the french crown jewles but lost after the Revolution. Both she and Sherlock are convinced that the Zone resides in London somewhere.
The characters are engaging but do come of as kind of like a female Holmes and Watson. But for the true Holmes enthusist that might not be a bad thing.
August 11, 2023
I really enjoyed this musical, mysterious, romantic, and humorous book about the woman who outwitted Sherlok Holmes. The plot was all over the place, but I didn't mind that in this case. I liked the subplots. Eventually, it all came together. I didn't love the narrator, Ms. Huxley, as she was terrified of anything unconventional, but she came around a little by the end. I will definitely continue with the series.
January 6, 2024
4 Stars
I was just remembering how much I loved the first three books is this series. Sadly, I sold these at a garage sale several years ago when I was moving and needed to reduce my book hoard. They are on Kobo at a bargain price though....
I was just remembering how much I loved the first three books is this series. Sadly, I sold these at a garage sale several years ago when I was moving and needed to reduce my book hoard. They are on Kobo at a bargain price though....
Read
August 8, 2009I think I have read this book way to many times. My son loves it.
February 8, 2010
Though the plot was slightly underwhelming, the characterization in this novel was pitch-perfect.
Read
July 13, 2010Read over 50 pages of this pastiche, didn't find the story interesting at all so back to the old used book shop she goes. I love Sherlock Holmes but this book did absolutely nothing for me.
July 13, 2011
The first of the Irene Adler novels by Douglas. And the best. I really enjoyed hearing the story from her side.
November 4, 2016
If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan, you will love this account of his first encounter with Irene Adler written from the perspective of Irene and her companion, Penelope Huxleigh.
May 26, 2021
Highly recommended!
Great start to a terrific series. I have now read all the Irene Adler books, and none has been a disappointment.
Great start to a terrific series. I have now read all the Irene Adler books, and none has been a disappointment.
September 3, 2021
Another fun variant, well written & respectful, good mystery & excellent characters. I keep my expectations low but was pleasantly surprised in this case.
March 29, 2019
In my reading of mystery series, especially those written by women with female protagonists, there is a lot of discussion that I tend to find tedious and irritating, largely because I am a man. There are ways where novelists can discuss matters of gender politics within works--Jane Austen manages the task quite well in Persuasion, largely because both she and Anne Eliot are immensely appealing and recognize that they are speaking to male audiences--but few authors do this well, especially nowadays, and this author is not one of them. When you take out the gender politics to a novel like this, you are left with a competently told mystery novel that has an interesting heroine who has an appealing and morally upright Watson-like sidekick. Great detective minds, male or female, appear to require some sort of grounded person around them to bounce ideas off of and to keep them tethered to the logistical concerns of the real world. If this novel is not the best example of a historical mystery, it certainly tells a compelling and worthwhile story from a different angle than the original one from Arthur Conan Doyle, even if it pays far too much explicit attention to matters of metafictionality.
The plot of this novel mirrors that of Doyle's "A Scandal In Bohemia," which this novel views as having been the work of Dr. Watson, even explicitly talking about the question of authorship, only having been told by another fictional character, this one the Shropshire spinster and parson's daughter Penelope Huxleigh, who by chance ends up working for and with Irene Adler. Adler is part amateur detective of her own and part struggling prima donna, whose voice is too low to be a coloratura but who rejects the roles that one would get as a mezzo soprano or contralto. Adler finds herself invited to Europe and involved in a romantic relationship (though apparently not a sexual one) with an imaginary crown prince of Bohemia during a time of increasing social change and which leads her to be a target of the king's anger when she refuses to be simply a mistress kept in gilded captivity. The complexities of the case lead her not only to investigate the fate of some lost diamonds but herself to be the target of an investigation by Sherlock Holmes in a case where there are disguises galore and a duel between the sexes that pits two intelligent people who are somewhat emotionally remote against each other.
Again, this is competent fiction. In some ways it reads like a Buzzfeed article about the who's who of late Victorian society, most of them hopelessly morally corrupt. The book would be so much more enjoyable if the author were less sexist against men, though, as the author's gender politics make this book far more of a chore to read and far less enjoyable than a book featuring such a worthy heroine should be. As is so often the case, less is more, less strident gender politics, less in the way of metafictional discussion about pretended authors, less in the way of anything that would distract the reader from the excitement of the plot and the worth of the characters themselves. It is a great pity that so many writers these days--especially women--have so little ability to write in order to appeal to a male audience, and so little interest in doing so. I think the world would be a great deal better off when we can get to the point where the whining and politics of ressentiment pursued by the writer and her fictional heroine have no place in either fiction or nonfiction, but such a world does not appear close at hand.
The plot of this novel mirrors that of Doyle's "A Scandal In Bohemia," which this novel views as having been the work of Dr. Watson, even explicitly talking about the question of authorship, only having been told by another fictional character, this one the Shropshire spinster and parson's daughter Penelope Huxleigh, who by chance ends up working for and with Irene Adler. Adler is part amateur detective of her own and part struggling prima donna, whose voice is too low to be a coloratura but who rejects the roles that one would get as a mezzo soprano or contralto. Adler finds herself invited to Europe and involved in a romantic relationship (though apparently not a sexual one) with an imaginary crown prince of Bohemia during a time of increasing social change and which leads her to be a target of the king's anger when she refuses to be simply a mistress kept in gilded captivity. The complexities of the case lead her not only to investigate the fate of some lost diamonds but herself to be the target of an investigation by Sherlock Holmes in a case where there are disguises galore and a duel between the sexes that pits two intelligent people who are somewhat emotionally remote against each other.
Again, this is competent fiction. In some ways it reads like a Buzzfeed article about the who's who of late Victorian society, most of them hopelessly morally corrupt. The book would be so much more enjoyable if the author were less sexist against men, though, as the author's gender politics make this book far more of a chore to read and far less enjoyable than a book featuring such a worthy heroine should be. As is so often the case, less is more, less strident gender politics, less in the way of metafictional discussion about pretended authors, less in the way of anything that would distract the reader from the excitement of the plot and the worth of the characters themselves. It is a great pity that so many writers these days--especially women--have so little ability to write in order to appeal to a male audience, and so little interest in doing so. I think the world would be a great deal better off when we can get to the point where the whining and politics of ressentiment pursued by the writer and her fictional heroine have no place in either fiction or nonfiction, but such a world does not appear close at hand.
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