Femme Fatale by Carole Nelson Douglas, 444 pages

 Irene Adler is the only woman to ever have outwitted Sherlock Holmes... and the one who has come closest to stealing his heart.

She has competed (and sometimes cooperated) with the famous fictional detective over six popular and acclaimed novels, featuring her daring investigations across the Continent. All along, the beautiful and brilliant American diva-turned-detective has managed to conceal her background and history, even from her dashing barrister husband Godfrey Norton and her devoted friend and biographer, English spinster Nell Huxleigh.

Irene's past is shrouded in secrecy-but a series of bizarre killings in New York City draws her reluctantly back to her native country, where she must race with a murderer to find her mother, a woman of mystery who may turn out to be the most notorious woman of the nineteenth century.

As Irene forges a trail into her own hidden past, Nellie Bly draws another ace investigator across the Atlantic to join in the hunt for a serial killer, the last man on earth Irene Adler wants to discover anything about her shocking past... Sherlock Holmes.

Castle Rouge by Carole Nelson Douglas, 485 pages

 Irene Adler is the only woman ever to have outwitted Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia; she is as much at home with a spyglass and revolver than with haute couture and gala balls. Her adventures are the stuff of legend, for she has faced down sinister spies, thwarted plots against nations, and led an unlikely group, including the bachelor of Baker Street and his faithful cohort Watson, through the cellars and catacombs of 1889 Paris to capture Jack the Ripper. But disaster scattered those allies and the Ripper has escaped...

With the help of an unreliable prostitute named Pink, and theatrical manager Bram Stoker, who would later pen Dracula, Irene follows the clues that lead back to Bohemia, and on to new and bloodier atrocities. And when pursuers and prey reunite at a remote castle in Transylvania, the Ripper is cornered and fully unveiled at last...

Chapel Noir by Carole Nelson Douglas, 494 pages

 Chapel Noir is the fifth book in Carole Nelson Douglas's critically acclaimed Irene Adler series, which reinvents "the woman" that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced in "A Scandal in Bohemia" as the heroine of her own extravagant adventures.

This time readers are thrust into one of the darkest periods of criminal fact and fiction when two courtesans are found brutally slaughtered in the lavish boudoir of a Paris house. No woman should ever see such horrors, authorities declare, but a powerful sponsor has insisted that Irene investigate the case, along with her faithful companion, sheltered parson's daughter Penelope Huxleigh.

But does anyone really seek the truth, or do they wish only to bury it with the dead women--for there is a worse horror that will draw Irene and her archrival, Sherlock Holmes, into a duel of wits with a fiendish opponent. These Paris killings mimic a series of gruesome murders that terrorized London only months before, in a dangerous and disreputable part of town known as Whitechapel...

A Soul of Steel by Carole Nelson Douglas, 395 pages

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 café 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. 

The Adventuress by Carole Nelson Douglas, 402 pages

 Diva/detective Irene Adler and her bridegroom, handsome barrister Godfrey Norton, are honeymooning in Paris when they become embroiled in an investigation: a drowned sailor's body has been recovered from the Seine, and on his chest is a tattoo. A tattoo like one Irene once saw in London-- on another sailor's chest, while the corpse lay upon Bram Stoker's dining room table. This clue will lead Irene to the first beautiful blond American princess of Monaco, political and matrimonial treachery, and a sword duel as she and her new friend Sarah Bernhardt unravel the mystery-- with, of course, the help of Godfrey, Irene's faithful chronicler Miss Penelope Huxleigh, and Sherlock Holmes himself.

Good Night, Mr. Holmes, Carole Nelson Douglas, 408 pages

 Miss Irene Adler, the beautiful American opera singer who once outwitted Sherlock Holmes, is here given an unexpected talent: she is a superb detective, as Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker can attest. Even Holmes himself must admit--albeit grudgingly--that she acquits herself competently.

But in matters of the heart she encounters difficulty. The Crown Prince of Bohemia--tall, blonde, and handsome--proves to be a cad. Will dashing barrister Godfrey Norton be able to convince Irene that not all handsome men are cut from the same broadcloth?

Castle Rouge by Carole Nelson Douglas, 485 pages

Another fabulous read in the Irene Adler series. There is a reason that I keep picking these books up and re-reading them over the years. This is one of the darker ones.

Another Scandal in Bohemia by Carole Nelson Douglas, 465 pages

I LOVE the Irene Adler series by Carole Nelson Douglas, it brings a new new side to the Holmes canon. I've read this book more than once, have a ton of other books I need to read, and still had to pick this one up. If you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes literature and haven't read any of this series, you're missing out on a serious treat.

A Soul of Steel by Carole Nelson Douglas, 395 pages

The best recommendation I can make for this book is that I had a huge pile of books to read, including library and review books, and I still picked up this book I've read before to enjoy. Nell Huxleigh continues to narrate her life with Irene Adler and her dashing husband Godfrey Norton, enjoying their new life in France. A figure from Nell's past stumbles into her arms, propelling Nell and Irene into what could be their deadliest mystery to date. And what's a mystery without Sherlock Holmes showing up?

The Adventuress by Carole Nelson Douglas, 402 pages

The second book in the wonderfully done Irene Adler series. Re-reading them, I just fall deeper in love with this series. I'm excited to pick up the next one.

Good Night Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas, 384 pages

This is one of my all-time favorite series, and while I was sick I wanted to read something enjoyable. This tells the story of Irene Adler from the Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia" but from her viewpoint. Irene is an opera singer trying to make it, living in London, when she takes in the just fired Miss Penelope Huxleigh. Miss Huxleigh is the daughter of a deceased parson, and she's not sure what to make of American-born Irene Adler, but soon realizes she has a heart of gold. I can't say enough good things about this series, but I will be making my way back through the series.