Irene's Last Waltz

Irene's Last Waltz by Carole Nelson Douglas

Carole Nelson Douglas wrote 8 books in a series based on a minor character from the first Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Scandal in Bohemia." This story contains the most memorable female character in Doyles Holmes' stories, Irene Adler, who outsmarts the famous detective and wins his admiration.

Irene's Last Waltz (later reissued as Another Scandal in Bohemia) is the fourth novel in Douglas' series featuring Irene Adler as a singer/actor who is also an amateur detective. Like Sherlock Holmes, Irene has a sidekick named Penelope Huxleigh who accompanies her and keeps a detailed journal of events. While Irene is very flamboyant and daring, Penelope is conservative and proper. It is from Penelope's long lost journals, supposedly discovered by a 20th century scholar Fiona Witherspoon, that the books of the series are drawn.

This book finds Irene and Penelope, as well as Irene's new husband Godfrey, returning to Bohemia at the request of the Rothschilds banking family to work undercover to get information on the political situation. Intrigue builds on intrigue as the threesome find themselves entangled in web of danger that is both entertaining and compelling reading.

This book and the entire series will amuse fans of books based on the Sherlock Holmes series who enjoy the introduction of a feminine and feminist point of view.