, to read after she was done with it - and defended the quality of the book to my 7th grade teacher, who thought any book with cleavage on the front was not appropriate for a book report (looking back, it was a really restrained cover, compared to some, but Whalen was an idiot, we all knew that).The series is narrated (at least at first, but I will get to that later) by Nell Huxleigh, the naive parson's daughter from the English countryside (or something like that) who is adrift in Victorian London and gets caught up with Irene Adler, pre-affair with the Prince of Bohemia and the resulting tussles with Sherlock Holmes. Along the way, the two meet up with Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Anton Dvorak, as well as a minor character or two from the Holmes canon. The books are simply fun, and, I think quite well written. Nell and Irene's characters are both well-drawn, and they feel like real people. Nell, in particular, I just wanted to be an older sister or something. And they run around solving mysteries, occasionally with dashing gentlemen - and plots turning on Liberty silks and Worth gowns. There is actually almost an annoying amount of detail given to their "costumes" as they were callled, and I wonder if that has been removed from the new releases.
The second book was called Good Morning, Irene when I read it, but is now in print as The Adventuress - I don't know why they changed the name, except maybe to sex it up, or if the text has been revised at all. Sarah Bernhardt comes charging in as a series regular which is tons of fun. Irene at Large has been tranformed into A Soul of Steel (I guess ditto on the sex-ing up, but really? Who uses a Conan Doyle quote for that? And, now that I'm thinking about it - is he cited as Conan Doyle? Or Doyle? The former, I think, but I will have to check with M). Regardless of what title to use, this one is a favorite of mine (and J.T.'s!) because it introduces the character of Mr. Quentin Stanhope - who is, natch, a dashing British gentleman! Who was a spy in India and Pakistan! And has unconventional ideas on women's abilities to think for themselves (they can) and corsets (not necessary)! Exclamation points abound!!! And he gave my beloved dog a name, so I will always adore the character for that. But, seriously, he's a heartbreaker. Then maker. I'm swooning a little thinking about him :)
There was a long gap, as I recall, between Irene at Large and the next book, Irene's Last Waltz, which is now known as Another Scandal in Bohemia. Here the author or publisher, or both, are just totally drafting on Conan Doyle, but I'm fine with that. Less fine with the fact, though, that this was the last really good book in the series. There was an even longer pause, and I do not know what the f*** happened, but all of a sudden it was like CND had a traumatic personality split, and the fetishy side came out. Annoying characters (AHEM, fictionalized Nellie Bly, girl muckraker) and totally gratuitous sexually based crimes drag the whole thing down with the last four volumes. To be fair, I guess when one, Chapel Noir (Number 5) is about Jack the Ripper, you kinda can't avoid that. But they went from books I read over and over again from my pre-teens on (numbers 1-4) to books I read half of, and skimmed half of, and then never picked up again. After Chapel Noir there was Castle Rouge
(yeah, BRILLIANTLY imaginative titles there) which concluded a two-parter. Those were followed by another set, Femme Fatale
and Spider Dance
(Lola Montez lives?!) Maybe I will try them again...like next time I have strep and if I end up at my parents' house...it kills me, because 1-4 are SO f***ing good, but I just can't handle 5-8 - that said, I will totally buy 9 if another one ever comes out. Because I'm a book wh*re :)
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