Sherlockian.Net: Irene Adler

She is always The Woman

To Sherlock Holmes she was always The Woman. Some readers see more than meets the eye in Irene Adler of "A Scandal in Bohemia", the first of the Holmes short stories. A native of New Jersey, she could captivate the King of Bohemia so why not a detective?

Who Is Irene Adler?

Roleplaying, Castle Falkenstein

La Scala in Milan, where she sang (contralto)

Novels about Irene Adler by Carole Nelson Douglas

Irene to Agatha, by Helen Elsom

In Defense of Mr. Godfrey Norton, by Rebecca Anderson

Notae Irenae, by David Richardson

Sherlock Holmes a-t'il rencontré Irene Adler à Strasbourg?

Sherlock Holmes and the Grand Horizontals

Love for Sale: the adventuresses

"The Adventuress", by ACD's friend Jerome K. Jerome

"Good Night, Irene"

The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes

Possible originals of Irene Adler

Lillie Langtry

Sarah Bernhardt

Nordica (Lillian Norton)

Lola Montez . . . and Ludwig II

Did they have an affair?

Heavy breathing: Matt Frewer as Sherlock Holmes and Liliana Komorowska as Irene Adler in "The Royal Scandal", first broadcast October 19, 2001, on the Hallmark Channel.

There's a Sherlockian tradition that Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler met again (don't know where, don't know when: maybe Montenegro, 1892) and enjoyed a dalliance. They may even have produced a son, who became Nero Wolfe, Rex Stout's great New York detective. Imaginative writings have resulted from this hypothesis, but that's all they are: imaginative.

Another popular tradition is that Irene Adler was in reality the "Aunt Clara" who figures in the 1920s song "We Never Mention Aunt Clara", as sung to the Baker Street Irregulars by Jim Montgomery. It's rather fun to think so.

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