2012 historical mystery novelette, part of Douglas's series about
Irene Adler. Irene visits London and enlists the help of Sherlock
Holmes to save an old friend from a complex blackmail plot.
It's a very slight piece, told by Irene in first person and
without any of the hangers-on who populate the other books: most of
the action deals only with Irene and Sherlock.
As for the plot: in 1894, the new gramophone can be used as a tool of
blackmail… if the recorder is suitably placed in a brothel.
This piece was written for an anthology (Sex, Lies and Private
Eyes), and while I'm glad Douglas returned to this version of Irene
Adler there's no real space for development of character; it relies on
narrative capital generated in earlier books, and this definitely
isn't the place to start with the series.
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