Chapel Noir: A Novel of Suspense featuring Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler, and Jack the Ripper [Hardcover]

Carole Nelson Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 2001

Before Caleb Carr and Laurie R. King, Carole Nelson Douglas gave readers a compelling look into Victoriana with a bold new detective character: 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 . . .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1889, opera diva and amateur investigator Irene Adler (the only woman ever to outwit Sherlock Holmes in the original Conan Doyle stories) is called on to investigate the slaughter of several prostitutes in a Parisian brothel. The house is frequented by British royals and not entirely unknown to Adler's wealthy patron. Adler sees that the French murders bear a disturbing resemblance to the still unsolved English crimes perpetrated by Jack the Ripper. Along with her companion Nell Huxleigh, who plays Dr. Watson to Adler's Holmes, and a mysterious young woman named Pink, whose intimate knowledge of sexual peccadilloes in high and low places horrifies Nell, Adler follows an unknown killer's bloody trail from the Arc de Triomphe to the catacombs and sewers of late-19th-century Paris. This is a lively historical thriller as well as a smart and faithful extension of the Holmes canon. Irene Adler justly deserves the spotlight Carole Nelson Douglas shines on her in this, her fifth outing. -- Jane Adams

From Library Journal

Victorian opera diva/sleuth Irene Adler (in Arthur Conan Doyle's classic A Scandal in Bohmia, she was also the only woman to best Sherlock Holmes) assists Paris police as they investigate the brutal murders of several young women in a local brothel. Horribly, the murders remind Irene of Jack the Ripper's "work." A vastly entertaining tale; for fans of Holmesian and Victorian mysteries.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (October 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312854935
• ISBN-13: 978-0312854935
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,601,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With her home office a Twilight Zone landscape of mannequins in vintage dress, no wonder award-winning ex-journalist and novelist Carole Nelson Douglas's 55 novels range from historical and contemporary mystery and romance to science fiction thrillers to high and urban fantasy. They include two Las Vegas-set series: the Midnight Louie, feline PI, mysteries partially narrated by a "Sam Spade with hairballs" and the Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator, noir urban fantasies of werewolf mobsters and Silver Screen zombies in a paranormal Vegas.

Douglas was the first author of a Sherlockian series with a female protagonist, diva-detective Irene Alder, the only woman to outwit Holmes, debuting with the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Good Night, Mr. Holmes. Rachel McAdams plays Irene in the Dec. 25 film with Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock. Douglas says if she has a literary muse, it's definitely feline: mysterious, wise, playful, and packing sharp shivs in velvet gloves.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A difficult but tantalizing read, October 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Chapel Noir: A Novel of Suspense featuring Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler, and Jack the Ripper (Hardcover)

I have eagerly anticipated another Irene Adler book from Carole Nelson Douglas for several years now. I learned about "Chapel Noir" several months ago and eagerly rushed to the bookstore as soon as my copy arrived in the store. That said, I can admit I am a fan, albeit a slightly disappointed one.

No, I do not mind that the book is darker than the previous ones in the series. It fits the story. I love the growth and development of the characteters, so no complaints there. I can even handle a cliffhanger as much as I personally detest them. I hate waiting at least a year for a resolution in books I read primarily for entertainment.

What I didn't like was the constant change of narrator in the book. Yes, I understand it was necessary, considering the inevitable cliffhanger. Yes, I even like Pink (or whatever you want to call her). But although she is vastly different in personality from Nell, her narrative voice is not sufficiently different. I kept having to keep the narrative clues straight as to who was speaking, since the voices were all too similar. It's not that I was confused, but I had to work too hard to read the book just to keep the narrators straight, let alone the clues and story developments. It was horrific when I had to put the book down for a break and come back and figure out who was speaking before I could become immersed in the story. The narrative clues are dense, actually, and also slowed the flow of the story. It was as if the editor knew the voices were not different enough so we were peppered with narrative clues, not mystery clues, since the conceit had to be maintained to obtain the ending.

Still, Irene is back, and so is Nell. If you love them, reread the other books and venture onto this one. If you haven't read the former books, please start with them. Nell is a jewel, a Dr. Watson and an Archie Goodwin rolled all into a Victorian woman. Don't miss her. I love her. I just wish the book had been more about her again than Irene. Irene is wonderful, but Nell is the true heroine. Nell humanizes Irene's perfections.

If you also enjoy Holmes tempered with a strong female character, I highly recommend Laurie R. King's "The Beekeeper's Apprentice."

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Irene Adler and Jack the Ripper resurrected!, February 15, 2002

By 

Formidable Opponent (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Chapel Noir: A Novel of Suspense featuring Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler, and Jack the Ripper (Hardcover)

I have to admit that I have not been a fan of Carole Nelson Douglas. I dislike cats; therefore, I do not read mystery books which feature crime-solving felines. The only reason I read her Irene Adler series was to catch brief glimpses of Sherlock Holmes here and there. Honestly, I found nothing all that remarkable about her Irene Adler series--until now.

I have been converted. This past week, I picked up Chapel Noir planning to quickly flip through the pages searching for Holmes. Boy, was I in for a pleasant surprise! The riveting plot: it would appear that Jack the Ripper is in Paris, and seems to have picked up where he left off back in Whitechapel. Irene and her Watsonian sidekick Nell are summoned in the middle of the night to investigate the crime. Famous personages pop up throughout the book a la any historical mystery, but rather than crowding up the storyline, they simply make their appearance and exit stage left.

By the way, for all you Sherlockians, there is enough Sherlock Holmes here for your enjoyment, but what caught my attention is that Douglas' pen seems to have found new life in this series. This book is far darker and more complex than its predecessors, but it sure makes for a far more engrossing read.

Sherlock Holmes stays for a bit longer in this book than he does in all the previous Irene Adler books combined (which is a plus!). The interplay between the two are especially fun to read, and Huxleigh's observations of them are just flat-out hilarious!

Chapel Noir, the latest and in my humble opinion, the greatest installment in this series, is a must-read mystery novel! And oh, the ending! Talk about a cliffhanger! I can hardly wait for the the sequel to come out in August 2002!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Repetative and boring, December 30, 2006

By 

Zthorns "old guy" (Bartlett, IL USA) - See all my reviews

A number of authors have attempted to follow Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes' tales with new exploits of their own devising. Some have succeeded and some have failed. Chapel Noir is an example of a failure. Although the book focuses on Irene Adler and only tangently includes Mr Holmes, it attempts to use the famous detective as a lure to bring in unsuspecting readers. I was intrigued at the thought of a story including Mr Holmes, Irene Adler (the woman), and Jack the Ripper. What I found was a story that was repetative and boring. I can only read so many times about the wardrobe of Irene Adler or the manner in which Mr Holmes and Doctor Watson misunderstood her. Repeating the same information yet using different words is still the same information. This was a 450+ page book that could have easily been tailored down to half the size. If you are looking for a book with action, this is not it. If you are looking for a book with solid dialogue between parties, this is not it. I felt this was a waste of my time.