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alice_speilburg's review against another edition
4.0
This was a brilliantly crafted mystery and story. The timing was excellent, the characters funny and human, and the mystery equal parts humorous, gripping and breath taking. I intend to read all of the Irene Adler books now.
johnbreeden's review against another edition
5.0
I will admit to a bit of trepidation when I started this book. I wasn't sure what to expect - especially as a Holmes fan. I enjoyed the story from the beginning, but by the time I struck the halfway mark, I was racing to the finish. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
heidenkind's review against another edition
3.0
Idk, on one hand I loved the historical detail, and the story was really well written. On the other hand, the narrator was annoying. It wouldn't be true to say she was stupid, but she was reeeeeeeeally slow on the uptake. And she was mean to Oscar Wilde, so.
That said, "Goodnight, Sherlock Holmes, wherever you are," is a toast I can get behind.
That said, "Goodnight, Sherlock Holmes, wherever you are," is a toast I can get behind.
elodiethefangirl's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
malinda_nevitt's review against another edition
5.0
I loved it! Irene Adler is a female version of Sherlock Holmes and she's awesome!
alissabar's review against another edition
4.0
I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and have always loved that a woman got the best of him in one of his stories. It was fun to find this book which takes the mysterious Irene Adler and builds a wonderfully layered character out of her. The whole series is a treat.
2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge: #2 A book that makes you nostalgic (brings back memories of stealing moments to read in and around raising toddlers, as that was when I discovered and read this one the first time.)
2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge: #2 A book that makes you nostalgic (brings back memories of stealing moments to read in and around raising toddlers, as that was when I discovered and read this one the first time.)
slferg's review
4.0
Interesting book. It is based on the incident in "A Scandal in Bohemia". And shows Irene Adler as a struggling singer and actress; her meeting with her chronicler and friend Penelope, and her acceptance of work as an 'inquiry agent' and the thrill of using her wits. Then she and Sherlock Holmes cross paths several times when they are both working on cases. This shows an attitude and brilliance of Irene Adler that is only hinted at in the Sherlock Holmes story. I believe I will read the rest in these series. It even covers the background of the story with the King and her meeting and falling in love with Godfrey Norton.
Quite an entertaining read.
Quite an entertaining read.
katyjo13's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
phire's review against another edition
3.0
This parallels a Scandal in Bohemia, starting a few years earlier with the association of the narrator Nell with Irene Adler, going on to describe Adler's adventures from the perspective of the protagonist rather than the object of someone else's story. The book starts off a bit slow and some of the themes were kind of clumsily handled* in the first 25-30% of the book, but it builds into a pretty satisfying ending that both ties up the canonical adventure and an additional original mystery rather nicely. Not a masterpiece, but diverting enough and enough to make me want to look up the next book in the series.
Main gripe, a gypsy [sic] fortune-teller who foretells the identity of her eventual beloved, a man whose identity that the reader knows both from A Scandal in Bohemia and from his earlier presence in the book, only to have both Irene and Nell go "but who could it be?!?!?!" Come on.
*I'm told that this is a later rewrite of the book in which the feminist themes that were present-but-subtle in the first version were dropped on the reader's head like an anvil. Anyone who knows me knows that I am certainly neeeeeeever going to ding a book for being too feminist, but I dislike it when morality is delivered at the expense of the flow and rhythm of a story, and would've preferred a subtler hand.
Main gripe, a gypsy [sic] fortune-teller who foretells the identity of her eventual beloved, a man whose identity that the reader knows both from A Scandal in Bohemia and from his earlier presence in the book, only to have both Irene and Nell go "but who could it be?!?!?!" Come on.
*I'm told that this is a later rewrite of the book in which the feminist themes that were present-but-subtle in the first version were dropped on the reader's head like an anvil. Anyone who knows me knows that I am certainly neeeeeeever going to ding a book for being too feminist, but I dislike it when morality is delivered at the expense of the flow and rhythm of a story, and would've preferred a subtler hand.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
The first of the Irene Adler novels by Douglas. And the best. I really enjoyed hearing the story from her side.