Chapel Noir

Irene Adler #5

by Carole Nelson Douglas

Before Caleb Carr and Laurie R. King, Carole Nelson Douglas gave readers a compelling look into Victoriana with a bold new detective Irene Adler, the only woman to ever outwit Sherlock Holmes. An operatic diva and the intellectual equal of most of the men she encounters, Irene is as much at home with disguises and a revolver as with high society and haute couture.

Chapel Noir is the fifth book in Carole Nelson Douglas's critically acclaimed Irene Adler series, which reinvents "the woman" that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced in "A Scandal in Bohemia" as the heroine of her own extravagant adventures.

This time readers are thrust into one of the darkest periods of criminal fact and fiction when two courtesans are found brutally slaughtered in the lavish boudoir of a Paris house. No woman should ever see such horrors, authorities declare, but a powerful sponsor has insisted that Irene investigate the case, along with her faithful companion, sheltered parson's daughter Penelope Huxleigh.

But does anyone really seek the truth, or do they wish only to bury it with the dead women--for there is a worse horror that will draw Irene and her archrival, Sherlock Holmes, into a duel of wits with a fiendish opponent. These Paris killings mimic a series of gruesome murders that terrorized London only months before, in a dangerous and disreputable part of town known as Whitechapel...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery

490 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 11, 2001

About the author

Carole 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.

Reviews

[Sheridan Steffler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Number five in the series. It followed a break of seven years for the author. I was a bit put off by the gore and explicitness of it. That said - the focus of much was on the Jack the Ripper stories, etc. A very thorough review - also added a couple of cases in Paris. I can't say I would recommend it. Alas! I did read it all the way through - for the closure. It offered no closure as the previous books had done but teased with the next book's starting point.

[MaryJohanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

S-L-O-W.... and I'm a Shelock Holmes fan!

[International Cat Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be warned - it has a cliffhanger ending; you have to get the next book in order to see how it ends! If the story had wrapped up in just one book I would've given it five stars.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irene Adler, living in France while her husband, Godfrey Norton is on a business trip to Prague, is called in to help as an interpreter for the French police when a young American prostitute finds a gruesomely slaughtered woman in an elegant Paris brothel.
Suspicion that the killer was Jack the Ripper, that he had fled London for France leads Irene into a grim investigation, that also draws Sherlock Holmes from London to Paris. The story is told from three points of view, the diaries of Irene's companion, Nell, the journals of Pink, the young prostitute and "Yellow Book" entries by a man who is controls an unnamed bestial young man with the intention of directing him toward some nefarious goal.
On the plus side, I will say that the writing is very good. The book was written 20 years ago, before a surge in Holmes pastiches gave rise to some pretty inferior prose, but Douglas does a very good job, especially with setting. But the big negative for me was that Irene Adler and Holmes seem to be determined to conduct separate investigations. If this was a minor crime or escapade, I could get on board with a competition, but this is a vicious killer and it would make more sense to have them team up instead of having this unconvincing rivalry. Also, the inclusion of real people - Bram Stoker, Prince Edward, Buffalo Bill - seemed a bit token-y, and even the story dragged out a little too long for the character reveal at the end to have much impact, at least for me - I just got tired of reading it. The other problem was that the character of Nell, and the point of view expressed in her journals made her a lot more interesting a character than Irene Adler.
Apparently, this is in the middle of Douglas' Adler/Holmes series and the Chapel Noir had sort of an open-ended conclusion because it is the first half of a tale that concludes in the follow up book (Castle Route) - the thing is, it didn't create enough suspense or sparks for me to be in a hurry to look up Castle Rouge.

[Goose · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite book in the Irene Adler series by Carole Nelson Douglas, thus far. I don't know if it was the addition of "Miss Pink" that threw things off or that Jack The Ripper plays such a huge part or that Godfrey Norton is missing, but something seems a lot less enjoyable here than it did in the previous novels. Even the wonderful Nell Huxleigh comes across as more judgmental and priggish than usual. If Good Reads gave half stars I would have given this 2 1/2 stars. Also not thrilled that after such a long read, there was no ending. Let's hope the next book is better.

[Phylisha Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Douglas' take on one of my fave characters in literature. Irene Adler who is the only woman Sherlock Holmes respected and "loved"

[D Corbishley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's disappointing with less detective work and more efforts to be grotesque. Repetitive sequences to bulk up the book that detract from the narrative.

[Linda Howarth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not read

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable but the cliffhanger makes me keen to read the next book.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of Carole Nelson Douglas's books I've read but it definitely will not be the last! This was a terrifically entertaining and well-written historical fiction murder mystery!

I should probably state in the interests of full disclosure, that I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes, AND am fascinated by the Jack the Ripper murders, both of which are a part of this story. HOWEVER, neither Holmes nor the Ripper are the main attraction of this book - both are minor players in a larger, female-character-driven story. That is what made it so interesting to me.

The main protagonist in the story is Irene Adler, who as anyone who's read the Holmes stories knows, was the only woman ever to out-wit the great detective, in A Scandal in Bohemia. Here, Adler is presented fully-realized and with her own talent as a detective, having previously been a Pinkerton agent, in addition to her original career as opera performer.

Now living in Paris, with her husband, Godfrey, and her faithful companion, Nell, whom Irene rescued from a life on the streets in poverty, Irene is minding her own business, and being harried incessantly by Nell, a typical example of self-important, self-righteous, uptight Victorian womanhood, to become more "lady-like."

When Adler is summoned in the middle of the night to a Paris brothel, by what the police detective who fetches her identifies only as: "a powerful personage," she and Nell are thrust into a particularly gory, and, since the Whitechapel murders in London were only a year old, frighteningly familiar double-murder of two of the brothels employees.

Adler dives into the investigation with relish, despite Nell's horror and distaste of every step - although, because she feels it her "duty" to look out for Irene, and attempt to keep her from disgrace, she follows right along with Irene's every foray into shocking places. They are also joined by "Pink" a young prostitute from the brothel, who found the murder victims, and whom Irene and Nell take under their wings - Irene to find out what she knows, and Nell in hopes of "reforming" her.

Before we know it, Sherlock Holmes arrives in Paris, and begins his own investigation, erroneously believing that Irene will simply obey his dictate that she is now to stay out of the case as he is taking over. To the contrary, the two quickly begin a competition of sorts, and their efforts intersect and cross in very entertaining ways as the story progresses.

We meet other historical figures of the time as well, who have minor roles in the plot: author Bram Stoker makes an appearance, being unfortunately present in the brothel where the murders take place, as well as being a friend of Irene's. Also, Buffalo Bill Cody, who's wild west show is performing at L'Exposition universelle, and his Indian companion Red Tomahawk, assist Irene in some of the investigations.

This is a wonderful, atmospheric historical fiction novel. Douglas's writing style reminds me of Anne Perry's in it's ability to bring you right into the story with the characters by a thorough and detailed description of the sights, smells, and feelings of the setting, but done in such a subtle way that it seems natural and not annoying or distracting.

Douglas also does a wonderful job in writing female characters who are intelligent, strong, and completely independent, as well as being feminine, funny and sympathetic. I'm already in love with this presentation of the Irene Adler character, who dresses in men's clothing when it suits her purposes, i.e. that will allow her access to places she couldn't go as a woman, smokes cigars, not only defies, but out-wits the great Sherlock Holmes completely, and just generally refuses to be stopped from doing whatever she wishes to do whenever she wishes to do it.

We get a great sense of what Paris was like at the time, we are given a taste of the Exposition, an of what life in a Paris brothel included. Overall a wonderfully detailed and colourful view of a time and a place.

WARNING - MINOR SPOILER ALERT! SKIP NEXT PARA TO AVOID!

The one small objection I have is that the ending of the book is a cliff-hanger, with the identity of the murderer unknown, and a key character having been abducted and in dire circumstances. So you have to immediately be ready to have the next book at hand if you want to find out what happens.

Luckily, the next book - Castle Rouge - is already available so you can find out what happens. I will definitely be getting that book, as well as checking out other books by this author. A great read for historical fiction fans, Victorian era fans, and murder mystery fans. Highly recommended!

[Ramon4 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but unsatisfying novel. Author Arthur Conan Doyle created the character Irene Adler in a short Sherlock Holmes story called ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’. Doyle claims that Irene Adler is the only person to have out smarted Sherlock Holmes.

Author Carole Nelson Douglas has taken this character and made her into a formidable private investigator; a contemporary and rival of Sherlock Holmes. Irene Adler’s adventures are narrated by her companion Penelope Huxleigh, much like Sherlock Holmes’ adventures are narrated by Dr. Watson.

In this story, Irene Adler is asked by the Rothschild family to investigate the murder of two Paris prostitutes. The murders are similar to the murders committed by Jack the Ripper the previous year in London. The trail takes Irene and her companion to a high-class Paris brothel, the Paris morgue, the new Eiffel Tower and the catacombs of Paris. During her investigations, she crosses paths with Sherlock Holmes, who has also been asked to investigate these murders.

The book ends without the case being resolved. Adler and Holmes break-up a cult that holds evil rituals in the catacombs of Paris, but whoever committed the murders is not identified or captured. Holmes returns to London to investigate the deep implications, and Adler is left to recover her companion, who has been captured by some unknown men who have some connection with the people who hold the evil rituals. Apparently, this will all be resolved in the next book.

I had looked forward to reading of the adventures of a formidable female detective who could out perform Sherlock Holmes. While Irene Adler does indeed appear to be a power to be reckoned with, her exploits are told to us by her prim companion, and we don’t really get to know Irene that well. Adler seems to make all her discoveries while Penelope is not present. Penelope tells us Adler wants to visit the Paris morgue, but she has no idea why Adler wanted to go there. Adler wants to visit a wine cellar, but Penelope doesn’t know why. And it goes on like this. Adler makes progress on the case, we never understand how Adler came to make the decisions she made.

I found the personality of Adler’s companion Penelope most annoying and grating. Not really understanding Adler’s methods, she editorializes on the social problems of the day. Her prim judgmental character disapproves of everything. The new Eiffel Tower is ugly and will probably be torn down soon, or at least it should be. I believe the author intended Penelope to have some comedic effect, but I found it off-putting.

At 500 pages, there was no payoff at the end, and I would not recommend this novel.

[Woodrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is where the series grows into its own, in many ways.

Up until this point, the series has been an intriguing, yet nbot captivating, take on Miss Adler, with a Watson-analogue that was at times annoying, and at times endearing. This might explain why I stopped reading before this novel!

But the writer -- excuse me, editor -- comes into her own with this novel. Some of it, I'm sure, is the placing of the action against a hunt for the Jack the Ripper. But as someone who's generally disliked "we found the Ripper" tales, that's not enough to grab me.

No, it's the ways she deepens these characters that shine. By taking the near-perfect Mr. Norton out of the story, and affixing the narrative firmly within the women's sphere of both Victorian London and Paris, Douglas gives a strong take on how to find the Ripper that most stories on the topic utterly miss, I gather. Although it wanders into a...odd conclusion, both in terms of explaining the murders and as a cliffhanger for the 2nd half, it manages to do so in ways that capture my attention.

Holmes makes his customary appearances, moreso than in prior books; one of the interesting items is how Adler drives Holmes, not vice versa. Moreso than other books in this series, she's the one in charge -- and the backlash of her decisions drives one to read the next book in this series far more successfully than I would have though, given the prior works.

[Bethany Swafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a horrific murder of two prostitutes occur, Irene Adler-Norton is on the case with Nell Huxleigh by her side. With Mr. Holmes eager to keep them from the 'horror', these women must follow obscure clues and learn about twisted minds to catch a killer.

This book is darker than the other books before it. It is told through Nell's journals, the journal of 'Miss Pink, and a yellow journal which details some of the horrors of the culprit. Atrocities against women are shown in cold detail, which is to be expected when Jack the Ripper is featured in the plot.

Still, the mystery keeps a reader in its grip until the end, and even then, it doesn't let go, for it leads directly into the next book. Irene uses all of her wits to keep Mr. Holmes at bay and to follow the clues wherever they may take her.

[Patricia Gulley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed to some degree by all the excessive descriptions interupting the action. Had to skim through a lot of it, but the basic story: Irene, Nell and a new cohort, Pink, set out to find the Paris Ripper believing it might be Jack himself turn even more vile. We see the Paris Exposition with that monstrosity, the Eiffel Tower, and meet Buffalo Bill, his 'red' indians, the prince of Wales, some Rothchilds, Braum Stoker and quite a few others famous at the time.
I know Nell is a prude by today's standards, but she does wear. Her saving grace is that she is drawn into all the action by a need for adventure. Oh yeah, Sherlock does show his face too.
The book's ending is not complete, the next book finishes the whole story, but I'm not that eager and will put off reading it for a while.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

More "spin off" fiction. In these stories you follow Irene Adler, the only woman A.C. Doyle setup to outwit Sherlock Holmes (A Scandal in Bohemia). Adler is an accomplished opera singer and amateur sleuth back in Victorian-era Paris.



Douglas paints pictures of lots of brothels and dark alleys as she ties in Adler's story with the mystery surrounding Jack the Ripper.

So some of the story comes off cliche.



But it's a great read if you like Holmes and Victorian era stories.



I thought Douglas did a good job of extending the Holmes canon without going too far.



Fans of detective mysterys will enjoy.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel sets my imagination apart, showing me qhat quality can a woman have in a socitey run by males. Irene Alder is quite a heroine throughout this book even though he requires Sherlock Holmes as a ally. However, her husband and Penelope disagree to such circumstances. To Irene Alder, Holmes is a more ideal figure even though he is cold and strict towards females. Irene Adler once again shows how she can pull off her own deduction in Paris. Her brillance and intelligence can shine out to others. I enjoy reading this novel for it brought a message to the public, that not only men can do all the things that are not suited to women but women can also do them as well.

[Elderberrywine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, wait, WHAT? No one informed me that this was merely Part One. *huffs*

Quite fortunately, this was published several years ago and the next bit has now arrived at my branch library. But still.

So, we have Irene and her companion Nell, as well as an intriguing American lass (love her identity), not to mention the great man himself (but without Watson, and seriously dude? the excuse for not bringing him along rings a little thin, just sayin' *side-eye*) and the whole merry gang tracking down a vicious criminal who appears to be the Parisian version of Jack the Ripper. Or perhaps the one and the same?

Next volume should tell. *runs off to snag precious*

[Rosa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have always been intrigued by Irene Adler and I read the next book in the series a million years ago and had purchased this one and the one after it so I could have a more thorough picture of the story. I love the many different real and fictional historical characters that make an appearance in the book. I think that I may have overhyped the series in my head. I'll finish the three I have but I think I'm no longer quite so in love.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book goes on forever -- and it's not done at the last page! You have another whole book to go through before you figure out who Jack the Ripper is (and you'll probably have figured it out by the end of this book). Chapel Noir lacks the charm and the humor of the first books in the series. It comes of merely as pretentious and yawn-inducing.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not like this one as much as I have the previous titles in this series. It seemed to drag for most of the book, and then near the end where it was finally starting get good and pick up, the author has the nerve to give us a cliff hanger ending! Now I have to immediately read the next in the series to find out what happens next! Argh! lol

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first read for this author and although I absolutely loved the entire book, I really despised the ending and therefore couldn't rate it to its highest potential. But let's admit: Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler as Jack the Ripper all in one book makes for a pretty guaranteed excellent read.

[Susan Youngman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another author drawing on Sherlock as a real character. The female lead is great! Unlike the Laurie R. King books where the female lead marries Sherlock, this one considers him a rival...an archrival! I will definitely have to read her other books.

[Alexandra]

5th in the series.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun stories to read, tho Irene is so perfect she can be annoying.

[Mary G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story.

[Cheryl Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. However, it is only the first half of a novel. The second half is 'Castle Rouge,' which is not nearly as successful, unfortunately.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Gina Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accursed cliffhangers...!

[Tara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't able to finish this. I did not like the narrator and it made each page I tried to read a drag.