Good Night, Mr. Holmes

This is an approach to the Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia" from the side of Irene Adler. It is an amusing story and supplements the Holmesian canon well. It includes a devoted companion, a foul-mouthed parrot, and an additional mystery. All nicely told. ( )

Irene Adler was the one woman who ever duped Holmes. Douglas links Adler's adventures with information about her in Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia." This lively story establishes Adler's sleuthing skills as she solves cases that involve Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker, among others. The novel presents an original perspective of the one whom Holmes himself dubbed "the woman." She's a superior woman and this book is thoroughly enjoyable. ( )

I finished it. There were parts I liked. I did lose interest about half way and put it down for a week. Maybe the later books get better-- I'd be willing to try. I found the Holmes [and Mary Russell] series by Laurie R King to be superior in many ways. ( )

I love Sherlock Holmes stories and so I was very eager to read this book about Irene Adler, the only woman to ever outwit the great detective in The Scandal in Bohemia. Good Night, Mr. Holmes tells Irene's side of the story from the perspective of her good friend and roommate Penelope Huxleigh. After a somewhat slow and rambling beginning, I found the story to be a light, entertaining, and humorous read, with good historical detail of the Victorian era. I'll be adding the next book in the series to the TBR pile. ( )

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. ( )