From Publishers Weekly
The game's afoot and dancing in Douglas's eighth historical thriller featuring the dynamic Irene Adler Norton, her able assistant Penelope "Nell" Huxleigh and that clever human bloodhound, Sherlock Holmes. At the end of their last adventure (2003's Femme Fatale), set in New York, Holmes suggested that "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert"—a name on a tombstone—may actually belong to Norton's mother. While an elderly cleric's brutal murder at William K. Vanderbilt's Fifth Avenue mansion occupies Holmes, Norton discovers that Gilbert is Lola Montez, the fabled "Spanish dancer" whose ill-fated romance with King Ludwig of Bavaria made her fodder for the gossip columns in the pre–Civil War era. When the two investigations intersect, Norton and Holmes find they must cooperate with each other. Emotion as well as logic figures in solving the dual mysteries of the cleric's murder and Norton's birth. Witty, fast-paced and meticulously researched, this sepia-tinted Victorian confection also reflects a contemporary sensibility as it ponders religious fanaticism and the challenges of a female celebrity living by her own rules. If indeed this is the last of the series, as the author has indicated, it closes on a definite high note. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Irene Adler, the opera singer turned detective, and her worthy adversary, Sherlock Holmes, are at it again. Readers left in suspense at the conclusion of Femme Fatale (2003) will be thrilled to learn that expatriate Irene remains in the U.S. to solve the perennial mystery of her parentage. Together with her faithful sidekick and chronicler Nell Huxleigh, she embarks on another adventure involving danger, intrigue, and murder. Crossing paths with the indefatigable Holmes hard at work on an interrelated investigation, they are swept up into a case that reaches far back into Irene's own murky past. As with the previous seven entries in this series, the cast of characters is stocked with an irresistible showcase of historic personages, including Nellie Bly, Willie Vanderbilt, Lola Montez, and King Ludwig of Bavaria. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Irene Adler is the beautiful opera singer who bested the best detective in the world, the only woman to ever outwit Sherlock Holmes. She has spent years in self-imposed exile in Europe, in an attempt to reinvent herself and create a new life, because she cannot remember the old one. But now circumstances have forced this diva-turned-detective to investigate a past she doesn't remember--on her home ground.
Daredevil reporter Nelly Bly has lured Irene, her faithful chronicler and British parson's daughter Nell Huxleigh, and Holmes himself to America, offering information regarding Irene's parentage. New York City in 1889 proved to be both fascinating and perilous for Irene, and Nelly Bly's information was more harmful than helpful. Because now Irene and her allies--and enemies--must race to follow a deadly trail of hidden personal and political history back in time to the days of the California gold rush, thirty years earlier.
They are pursuing the complex and contradictory life story of one of the most notorious women of the nineteenth century, and before the intrigue-ridden quest is over, Irene and Nell will uncover murderous international political conspiracies, lost treasure, and finally... the full, shocking secret of Irene's birth.
About the Author
Carole Nelson Douglas is the author of the historical suspense series featuring Irene Adler, the only woman to ever outwit Sherlock Holmes. She is also the author of the best-selling and much loved contemporary Midnight Louie Mysteries, which are set in Las Vegas. She lives in Texas with her husband.
Spider Dance FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Irene Adler is the beautiful opera singer who bested the best detective in the world, the only woman to ever outwit Sherlock Holmes. She has spent years in self-imposed exile in Europe, in an attempt to reinvent herself and create a new life, because she cannot remember the old one. But now circumstances have forced this diva-turned-detective to investigate a past she doesn't remember - on her home ground." "Daredevil reporter Nellie Bly has lured Irene, her faithful chronicler and British parson's daughter Nell Huxleigh, and Holmes himself to America, offering information regarding Irene's parentage. New York City in 1889 proves to be both fascinating and perilous for Irene, and Nellie Bly's information turns out to be more harmful than helpful. Because now Irene and her allies - and enemies - must race to follow a deadly trail of hidden personal and political history back in time to the days of the California gold rush, forty years earlier." They are pursuing the complex and contradictory life story of one of the most notorious women of the nineteenth century, and before the intrigue-ridden quest is over, Irene and Nell will uncover murderous international political conspiracies, lost treasure, and finally...the full, shocking secret of Irene's birth.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
The game's afoot and dancing in Douglas's eighth historical thriller featuring the dynamic Irene Adler Norton, her able assistant Penelope "Nell" Huxleigh and that clever human bloodhound, Sherlock Holmes. At the end of their last adventure (2003's Femme Fatale), set in New York, Holmes suggested that "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert"-a name on a tombstone-may actually belong to Norton's mother. While an elderly cleric's brutal murder at William K. Vanderbilt's Fifth Avenue mansion occupies Holmes, Norton discovers that Gilbert is Lola Montez, the fabled "Spanish dancer" whose ill-fated romance with King Ludwig of Bavaria made her fodder for the gossip columns in the pre-Civil War era. When the two investigations intersect, Norton and Holmes find they must cooperate with each other. Emotion as well as logic figures in solving the dual mysteries of the cleric's murder and Norton's birth. Witty, fast-paced and meticulously researched, this sepia-tinted Victorian confection also reflects a contemporary sensibility as it ponders religious fanaticism and the challenges of a female celebrity living by her own rules. If indeed this is the last of the series, as the author has indicated, it closes on a definite high note. Agent, Howard Morhaim. (Dec. 1) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The only woman to capture Sherlock Holmes's regard again fascinates him, this time in 1889. At Holmes's instigation, Irene Adler is drawn to Brooklyn's Green-Wood cemetery and the grave of Eliza Gilbert, who died 30 years earlier. Could this poor soul lead her to the identity of the Woman in Black, the mother who abandoned her to an acting troupe when she was a toddler? With her husband Godfrey off in Bavaria on assignment for Baron Rothschild, Irene and her companion, starchy ex-governess Nell Huxleigh, trace Gilbert's history, discovering that she was the infamous entertainer and courtesan Lola Montez, whose deathbed conversion to saintliness was witnessed by Episcopalian cleric Father Hawks, now dead himself on the billiard table of William K. Vanderbilt. While Holmes concentrates on the murder, Irene and Nell continue tracking Lola, with semiromantic interludes between Nell and British secret agent Quentin Stanhope, who is now assisting intrepid girl reporter Nellie "Pink" Bly as she uncovers a massive baby-buying scandal. Everyone slips in and out of disguise, and more skullduggery is afoot: Vanderbilt's daughter Consuela is abducted, another cleric is tortured, and three cloaked figures (Jesuits? Ultramontanes?) waylay everyone. Will Irene learn who her mother was, or simply come to terms with not knowing? Like its seven predecessors (Femme Fatale, 2003, etc.), a paean to women's audacity, pugnacity and street smarts, told with frisky good humor and nicely integrated historical asides: Bellevue's eminence, Mesmer's skills, Delmonico's menus.
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