Jun 14
2015
Book Review: Good Night Mr. Holmes
While we groupies of Baker Street wait for the Christmas Special, I thought I would review one of my favorite Holmesian spin-offs to pass the time. I speak of Carole Nelson Douglas‘ Good Night Mr. Holmes.
For some reason this book seems to have faded into obscurity in comparison to Douglas’ other books about cats and werewolves. Good Night Mr. Holmes examines that infamous affair A Scandal In Bohemia from the flip side of the coin. Who was Irene Adler? How did she meet the king? How did such a scandalous woman capture the proper barrister Godfrey Norton? Douglas answers all these questions and more.
Many writers have tried to solve the mystery of Irene Adler but in my humble opinion none has succeeded quite so well as Carole Nelson Douglas. Douglas does justice to the canon while at the same time putting her own unique spin on the story. Her Irene Adler is the the perfect match for Doyle’s Holmes. Both are equally talented. Both are Bohemian and eccentric. Both crave mental stimulation. Both enjoy a battle of wits. But Holmes focuses his powers on deduction and detecting. When he is bored he resorts to the cocaine. Irene on the other hand, in true female form, is a multi-tasker extraordinaire. One minute solving a crime, the next – pursing a role in an opera, she will never ‘indulge’ because she will never allow herself to be bored.
It is Irene’s multi-tasking nature on which Douglas builds her plot. And a delightfully complex plot it is too. There are little mysteries, there are big mysteries, there are mysteries within mysteries. But despite all the brain work, the reader never ever feels like they are slogging through the words. One comes back to the real world feeling refreshed and somehow the smarter for simply being in the presence of such genius.
Godfrey Norton must not be forgotten. I couldn’t help but think that if Good Night Mr. Holmes was ever made into a movie Jeremy Northam would be a perfect Godfrey Norton.
And I have to say the historian in me enjoyed the never ending cameos from Victorian London. So much fun! Which aptly sums up the whole book
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. (Charles M. Schulz)
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