GOOD NIGHT, MR. HOLMES

by Carole Nelson Douglas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 19, 1990

The centenary of the first Sherlock Holmes short story, ""A Scandal in Bohemia,"" finds Irene Adler, Sherlock Holmes's most formidable opponent, speaking for herself in this 350-page prologue to Conan Doyle's story. Not that Irene actually speaks for herself; she has her own Watson, demure parson's daughter Penelope Huxleigh, who's just as worshipful as her male counterpart. In prose whose Watsonian rhythms soon fade away, Penelope tells how the first cab she and Irene shared was driven by one Jefferson Hope; how Irene avenged Penelope's dismissal from Whiteley's emporium after an unjust accusation of theft; how she and Holmes both accepted a commission from Charles Tiffany to recover Marie Antoinette's Zone of Diamonds; how her search for clues brought her to a tea party Brain Stoker gave for the likes of James Whistler and Oscar Wilde; how she traced the Zone to the dying father of barrister Godfrey Norton and eventually deciphered the clues to its location Norton Senior left behind; and how, in the meantime, she became embroiled with the Crown Prince of Bohemia, solving the mystery of his father's murder only to be discarded and pursued on his accession to the throne--before concluding the tale at Irene's immortal London home at Briony Lodge. Irene's adventures are offered as an anti-Victorian romp, and the tone throughout is smug with hindsight: Irene could have stepped from the pages of Ms., and Holmes's conceit is played for the maximum irony. Sequel-minded Douglas (Probe, Counterprobe, etc.) hints in a poker-faced ""Scholarly Afterword"" that more revelations may be on the horizon. This installment is mainly for confirmed Baker Streeters--though anti-Holmesians will probably enjoy it more.

Pub Date: Nov. 19, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Tor--dist. by St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION