The Scandal in Bohemia (Penguin Readers, Level 3)

Doyle’s novels on the incomparable and inimitable Sherlock Holmes are presumably some of the most significant detective stories ever written, drawing a perfectly unique and charismatic character with a lot of recognition value, accompanied by Watson, the everyman commenting on Sherlock’s ways of behaviour with observations and comments of his own. I’ve only read one of them so far before deciding to download the „Adventures of Sherlock Holmes“, a collection of twelve different short stories, which can be found free of charge and legally on the website of Project Gutenberg. And I have to admit, the one I read was probably not the best one to start with when reading the Sherlock novels – it was „The Valley of Fear“, show more Doyle’s seventh Sherlock novel, and probably the weakest one, judging from several reviews and my own feeling about it. After reading that one, I quitted reading the Sherlock novels for some months, finding it difficult to bestir myself to read „A Study in Scarlet“, the first novel about Sherlock if I got it right. But now it has finally found its place on my „to-read-next“ list.

„A Scandal in Bohemia“ has been the inspiration for the first episode of the second season of BBC’s successful Sherlock Holmes TV adaption. By creating the interesting character of Irene Adler, Doyle managed to show another new side of the perfectly portrayed character of Sherlock (not to mention that the modernized version of Irene Adler, played by Lara Pulver, has been even more interesting and versatile with all those different sides the authors decided to allow her character to show). It is no particularly long story (approximately 8,5k words) and, thus, cannot be compared to any of Doyle’s novels (only one of which has been read by me so far, a fact I’m willing to change during the next time). But Doyle was capable of creating an interesting atmosphere, especially by including a lot of humorous conversations, and his writing style is pretty captivating (sort of the contrary to what I remember about reading „The Valley of Fear“, but I’m prepared to eliminate my poor impression of this one in order to gain a new opinion on the Sherlock novels).

I’d give this short story 4.0 stars, recommending it to everyone who likes reading a well-plotted crime story with interesting characters. And it’s free, so don’t think too long about reading this – just read it. show less

To read more reviews and fun things go to my blog; Drugs Called Books!

I've known "Sherlock Holmes" for quite a while--I mean, who doesn't at least know the name? I've watched his modern TV and cinema renditions, understood references to this character, known the names of the most famous of his stories and their plot lines. But this was my first introduction to the original Holmes, aside for reading a few of the "kid versions" in my own language, and I must say, I might've been slightly... disappointed.
I loved the opening, with how Watson explained that for Holmes, Irene was always THE woman. It is just a gripping and for me quite a beautiful opening, something that made me feel; "this is how an opening should be!"
I loved that it was show more told from Watson's point of view rather than Holmes', though I found that sometimes uncomfortable when we only "heard" of the action instead of "witnessing" it, though I suppose it served a purpose - to make Holmes explain his process to the "lesser mind" and viewing everything throughout the eyes of the "normal person", which we can identify with better. Does that mean we're stupid...?
What I was disappointed at was Irene herself. I did not feel that she really bested Holmes at all. I mean, she realized who he was and escaped, yes, but... it didn't feel like the big deal it should've been, considering she became THE woman. I always thought she must've done something truly extraordinary for Holmes to be so caught on her, but it didn't feel that way. It didn't feel as remarkable as it should've been.
Also, she married! And in love, according to her! Kind of ruins any Irene X Holmes shipping, doesn't it? Never saw that coming, considering everybody kind of put Irene and Holmes together (well, to be fair, she is THE woman) and because it never got into any of the adoptions. I suppose this is just my girlish, romantic and teenager-y mind feeling all disappointed about that, but what can I really do this? Admit it, you've got a girly, romantic, teenager-ish girl somewhere as well! Err, unless you're a boy…
I would've liked to hear more about Irene's husband and her reasoning for blackmailing the king to begin with.
I mean, if you're in love and about to get married, why threaten him? It seemed like everything was just so sudden, I don't know. Like she heard of Holmes and decided to marry straight away to lose him, or something?... And why did she have to leave on a different carriage to her wedding, and not have her properly? She didn't have time to plan her own wedding? Why?
I dunno, I guess I always thought that EVERYTHING would be explained in stories about Holmes and that everything would be planned to details and meaningful. But, alas, it hasn't been the case...
Great writing, nonetheless, and still love Holmes and will read more stories of him! :) show less

ha! what fun! I did this as an audio and it was wonderful! I love that Holmes just calls her "The Woman"

she was smart and really did come close to matching him!

Bested by a woman, gotcha Mr Holmes! I thoroughly enjoyed the fast pace of this story, loved the disguises and the ending was just magic!

I blew through the free Kindle collection of Sherlock Holmes stories in about two weeks. They were pretty silly. The situations were unlikely, and the creaky Victorian underpinnings were a bit embarrassing in places. I don't know that I'll be seeking out more Holes stories in the near future.

Enjoyable short Sherlock Holmes story. Memorable for being one occasion where the detective falls short of a complete success.

"She" is one of the most cool and atractive woman in this series.
She deeply fascinate Holmes. Usually he don't like women so much, but he cannot forget her and he call her "the woman".
Yes, she is only one woman for him.