Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia

This book reminds me a little of “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allan Poe. But Conan Doyle focuses on the same problem in a different way and that makes the story unique. Besides the character of Irene Adler is (apart from Professor Moriarty) equals the only intelligence to Sherlock Holmes. It's a great story set in Victorian London.

“You see, yet you do not observe” is a phrase to live by. Holmes and Watson encounter the mysterious Irene Adler in this short story, which then puts into question everything that Holmes is and represents. For one, he is often thought of as being a misogynist and/or gynophobic (something that I do not entirely agree with), but his meeting with “The Woman” changes that perception very quickly. While Irene Adler is an interesting character inasmuch as she helps the reader to see a different side of the detective-hero, she is not as spectacular as what a lot of critics make her out to be. The BBC TV series really expanded on her character and made her a true force to be reckoned with, but the original Irene is rather dull by comparison and does very little in ways of outwitting the great Sherlock Holmes. Overall, this little story is enjoyable just as much as the others, but it is not the most interesting of cases in the canon.

“To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex...there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.”

In A Scandal in Bohemia Watson describes a woman who fooled Sherlock Holmes. It all kicks off when Sherlock receives a guest who makes Sherlock and Watson swear secrecy. He's Count Von Kramm, the future King of Bohemia who has had an affair with a woman called Irene Adler. Irene has a picture of them together and is going to use it to ruin his upcoming marriage. He asks Sherlock to retrieve the photo. Sherlock Holmes theorises that in a crisis women run to save their most precious They then proceed to convince Irene there is a fire. She runs to a nearby box and takes the picture, knowing where the picture is Watson and Sherlock leave. The next day Sherlock and Watson return when Irene is out of the house but instead of the photo they find a letter. It says Irene had been watching Sherlock and that she burned the photo. She asks to be left alone forever. Holmes refuses a heavy emerald encrusted ring but accepts Irene's photograph as payment for his services.

A Scandal in Bohemia might only be a short story but it's entertaining enough. It has a memorable opening line and is definitely worth picking up.