Carole Nelson Douglas

Carole Nelson Douglas
Midnight Louie
Irene Adler
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Irene Adler

Book List
Books 1-4
Books 5-8
Short Stories
References

Irene Adler books 5-8

by Carole Nelson Douglas

5. Chapel Noir
6. Castle Rouge
7. Femme Fatale
8. Spider Dance


Chapel Noir5. Chapel Noir

 This book is the first of a two parter. In May of 1889, Irene is called in the middle of the night to go to Paris and investigate a murder.  A couple of prostitutes were killed in a gruesome manner and some pretty important people are liable to have their reputation tarnished.  CND delicately avoids the gore and leaves a lot of the details to the reader's imagination.  Everyone thinks Jack the Ripper is responsible, but who is he?  Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate.  Irene meets a young woman at the brothel and takes her in, her nickname is Pink because of the way she blushes.  Nell is kidnapped, Godfrey is missing, and Irene actually loses her poise.  Pink makes an interesting substitute for Nell in the narration, and as Irene searches for Nell and Godfrey.


Castle Rouge6. Castle Rouge

   Irene musters her courage and resources and goes east to Bohemia, where the trail seems to be leading.  Women turn up mutilated and/or dead, Jack to Ripper seems to have gone east.  Godfrey is a prisoner and Nell is brought to him and held captive also.  A trap is set for Irene.  Help shows up in unexpected places.  Irene seems to take a back seat while other people take over the story.  So who really is Jack the Ripper?  I think Sherlock Holmes has the answer.  The Russian spies are still at it, but perhaps out of commission now.

 


Femme Fatale7. Femme Fatale

Irene gets a telegram from Nelly Bly (Pink) saying that her mother's life is in danger.  Irene doesn't have a mother that she can remember and is irate that Nelly would intrude into her private life.  She goes to American to prove Bly wrong and discovers she can remember little or nothing about her childhood.  She interviews people who knew here when she was little.  It turns out she grew up in show biz, she was Rena the Ballerina, Merlinda the Mermaid, and Little Fanny Frawley (the petite pistolera (sharpshooter)).  She meets lots of interesting people and finds out about Madame Restell, the abortionist, who looked after her in a way.  Some of these people start dying.  Irene and Holmes discover the murderer and accomplice.  Holmes leads Irene to a headstone in Greenwood cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y., that lists Mrs. Eliza Gilbert, and challenges her with that name.


Spider Dance8. Spider Dance

Irene is still in American - now interested in tracking down Eliza Gilbert as her possible mother presented to her by Sherlock Holmes.  Turns out Holms is working on a case of his own and gave Irene this 'clue' as a way of keeping her away from him.  Alas, tracking down Mrs. Gilbert brings Irene right back into Holmes mystery, the two quests merge.  There are excerpts from and about Mrs. Gilbert throughout the book, this exceptional woman certainly could have been Irene's mother.  I found the book, and Mrs. Gilbert, though long dead, fascinating.