Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will have to move over! Carole Nelson Douglas does a really mean Sherlock Holes pastiche and her plots are as tricksy as Doyle's.
From back cover:
Alive and well despite the widely published accounts of her death, diva Irene Adler and her dashing husband Godfrey Norton are taking coffee with their friend Nell Huxleigh in a Parisian sidewalk cafe when a stranger dressed in Oriental garb falls at their feet. It is not Irene's beauty that has felled him, but a dose of poison, and even more surprisingly, the friends learn as he recovers that he is an Englishman! The mysterious young man informs them that he is seeking a Dr. Watson who tended his wounds at the disastrous battle of Maiwand, a man whose life he says is now in mortal danger.
The hunt is on and their search will lead them to a command performance for the Empress of all the Russias and to Sarah Bernhardt, into a channel steamer and at last to the doorstep of 221 Baker Street, where they will discover deadly secrets both past and present.
From back cover:
Alive and well despite the widely published accounts of her death, diva Irene Adler and her dashing husband Godfrey Norton are taking coffee with their friend Nell Huxleigh in a Parisian sidewalk cafe when a stranger dressed in Oriental garb falls at their feet. It is not Irene's beauty that has felled him, but a dose of poison, and even more surprisingly, the friends learn as he recovers that he is an Englishman! The mysterious young man informs them that he is seeking a Dr. Watson who tended his wounds at the disastrous battle of Maiwand, a man whose life he says is now in mortal danger.
The hunt is on and their search will lead them to a command performance for the Empress of all the Russias and to Sarah Bernhardt, into a channel steamer and at last to the doorstep of 221 Baker Street, where they will discover deadly secrets both past and present.
This is a great series by a superb writer. A different and interesting view of the great man for any Sherlockian. The main cast and supplemental characters in this Irene Adler series are fun and finely drawn. Book 3 is an exceptionally good story.
