Customer Reviews

Irene at Large

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Since I began reading this series, I had occasionally wondered if Penelope "Nell" Huxleigh, sensible parson's daughter and friend to the great Irene Adler, would ever find a special "someone" of her own. Irene, after all, has been happily married to Godfrey since the end of "Good Night, Mr. Holmes" (no spoiler there, as this is revealed in the Holmes version of the tale). I was pleasantly surprised with the nature of the match the author chose to make-- fitting with Nell's background, yet appropriate to her present and future. Quentin is simultaneously able to hold Nell up as an icon of respectability, yet admire her for her present adventures (much as she denies them). And in doing this, he encourages her to see herself more as we, the readers, have come to see her-- competent, practical, and intelligent.

The period references to the "Great Game"-- the ongoing struggle for domination between England and Russia, the two major world powers of the day-- were also detailed and well-written, and added a satisfying texture to Watson's past, as well as adding suspense to the plot. (Those who liked this aspect of the story might also like Margaret Ball's "Flameweaver" and "Changeweaver" novels, though these are historical fantasy rather than mystery.)

Oh, and the mystery itself was pretty good too. :)

I have read other supposed Sherlock Holmes take offs, This one succeeds by not recreating Sherlock Holmes but one of the characters from the original series. I enjoyed the female viewpoint and the tidbits of Sherlockian lore she weaves through the adventure. This was the first of the series that I have read, I have just bought the previous two and will spend a couple of great nights reading them. Hope Ms. Douglas bring out more in the series.

I find this book, as others in the series, a delightful addition to the Sherlockian canon. The adventures of Irene Adler loop in and around the known timeline of Sherlock's exploits, and the few tantalizing glimpses we have of the Great Detective keep him very definitely in character, unlike many ham-handed attempts by other authors. I highly recommend the entire series, and can't wait until it moves into the mysterious 2-year hiatus so unsatisfactorily explained by Mr. Holmes after his supposed death.

A delightful lady introduced to me by a dear actress friend who would love to play Irene Adler in film. This is a neat series, well worth investing in.

i really love this series. I am really happy that I am able to find the books on Amazon. The seller was right on the condition of the book,

This third in the Irene Adler series is a lot of fun. There is a mixture of espionage, trickery, skullduggery and, yes, the hint of love for Penelope. What I really enjoy about this series is the way Ms. Douglas mixes in Sherlock Holmes trivia into her plots. She makes use of one of Sherlock's villains in this book (Colonel Moran), and we also see Irene solving puzzles along with Sherlock Holmes, although Holmes doesn't know that "that woman" is in England and that she's been baiting the hook used to catch him in order that his superior investigative skills can be used to uncover a political plot. This series is a lot of fun, and I look forward to more.

I've read 5 of the 8 books in this series as of 2005, and I love every word and can hardly wait to read more.

Carole Nelson Douglas uses language lightly and carefully to evoke the slightly archaic setting.

She translates the prose style of Arthur Conan Doyle's day into the modern era with as much elegance as found in the BBC productions of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett. I hear Jeremy Brett in every word of Holmes dialogue in these novels.

As the fans of a television show will detail events going on offstage during an episode, Douglas shows us details of Holmes' investigations that would not have seemed pertinent to Conan Doyle as he wrote -- but he might well have been thinking of them. She twangs every Holmsian heartstring with her deft expansion of the Doyle tales.

There is one difference though. Douglas shows us a 21st Century woman in Irene Adler, a woman truly with A Soul of Steel (as this novel will be retitled in its December 2005 release,) a woman Doyle could never have written. Adler's biography makes her attitude plausible, and we can easily believe she bested Sherlock Holmes more than once.

Even if you've never read any Sherlock Holmes -- read these books.

Irene At Large is the third in a series of mystery novels based on the career of Irene Adler Norton, a character from one of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. In Doyle's A Scandal In Bohemia Irene Adler outsmarts Holmes and wins his lasting admiration. Carol Nelson Douglas has taken this story as the basis for a series of delightful mystery novels that include Holmes and his companion Watson in mysteries that run parallel to the Holmes stories.

She has also created a framework for this continued series based on a current day historian Fiona Witherspoon who has supposedly discovered the diaries of Irene's companion Penelope "Nell" Huxleigh and unpublished memoirs of Dr. Watson that she blends into the novels of the series.

In this outing the plot takes place around the events of Doyle's story The Naval Treaty. Irene and Nell run into an old acquaintance of Nell's, Quentin Stanhope, dressed in Eastern garb, feverish, and quite unkempt. When they take him home, an attempt is made on his life. As they try to uncover his attacker, they find the answer may lie in events at the British battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan nine years earlier that link Stanhope to Dr. Watson and a mysterious spy known as Tiger.

This is an excellent story that should appeal to readers familiar with the tales of Sherlock Holmes, but who seek a more feminine and feminist point of view on the period and the characters.

This book could have been half the length it was if the author had not inserted so many references to past books. One minute the narator would tell someone she was adventurous, then later, deny that she was. The constant references to propriety became tedious. I ended up skimming the last half.