Castle Rouge: A Novel of Suspense featuring Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler, and Jack the Ripper

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Summary: So glad to have found Carole Nelson Douglas
Review: I picked this book up at the library one day while I was passing time waiting on my children. The word Castle caught my eye, and the Jack the Ripper plot idea intrigued me. Always searching for(and all too rarely finding) a good writer, I was immediately delighted with the quality of Ms. Douglas' writing. In classic Dickensian style she weilds words in unexpected ways as to be sometimes powerful, sometimes subtle, sometimes shocking, but never ordinary.

The story and characters are in themselves intriguing. By assembling in one story Jack the Ripper, Bram Stoker (author of Dracula) Sherlock Holmes, Nelly Bly, the Prince of Wales, Baron de Rothschild along with other sordid characters, both fictional and non, you have the soup into which Ms. Douglas tosses the reader to stew. We watch as Irene Adler solves both the Jack the Ripper case once and for all, and reveals the source of Bram Stroker's inspiration. Along the way we get to explore the seedy underbelly of late 19th century London, Paris, Prague and Transalvania. It's a scandolusly delicious romp!

If you like historical fiction or mystery, and value skillful writing, I commend you to Ms. Douglas.

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Summary: A Victorian era mystery with a feminist point of view
Review: Irene Adler is a character created by Arthur Conan Doyle and the only woman who ever outsmarted his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Carole Nelson Douglas has taken Irene and turned her into a detective with her own series of mystery novels. In this book, Castle Rouge, the action picks up from the previous volume Chapel Noir, with Irene seeking out the person or people who have perpetrated Jack the Ripper like murders in Paris a year after the Whitechapel murders in London. She is in desperate pursuit because it appears that her colleague Nell Huxleigh and her husband have been taken by the same culprits. But who are they? In this second volume Irene leaves Paris first for Prague and then a castle in Romania. Who is responsible for this international crime spree? Don't read the Selected Bibliography at the end of the book until you have finished it. You may find a spoiler of a clue there,
A long tale that stretches across two large volumes, but the excitement never flags. Highly recommended - a feminist point of view on the Victorian era.

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Summary: wonderful Victorian mystery
Review: Sleuth Irene Adler is stunned that the man she thought might be Jack the Ripper escaped from his prison asylum and concludes that that he will kill again. Irene caught him before and feels obligated to do so again though she knows how dangerous that mission is.

However, the cat and mouse game takes quite a few twists even before it starts. First someone abducts her companion Nell Huxleigh. If that kidnapper is Ripper, Nell is already dead. Even before she can plan a course of action to rescue Nell if she lives, Irene learns that her spouse, barrister Godfrey Norton, has vanished somewhere in Bohemia. Once again she wonders if the escapee is involved. With the help of Bram Stroker and Pink, an expatriate American hooker, Irene begins her second war to stop the notorious serial killer whose calling card is a sea of red and rescue her cherished ones.

The latest Irene Adler Victorian mystery, CASTLE ROUGE, is a tremendous who-done-it that stars a wonderful sleuth. Irene is supported by a who's who of the times (fiction and real) blended cleverly into the story line to either provide insight into the heroine or propel the plot forward including Holmes and Watson. The investigation is strong engaging the audience with its insight into the late nineteenth century on the continent as a bonus. Carole Nelson Douglas deserves accolades and best selling status for this triumphant historical detective tale that will send readers seeking other Adler novels and other works by this delightful author.

Harriet Klausner

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Summary: And the Castle ran red with blood...
Review: Slow, confusing, not very believable, (and to top it off Pink is beyond irritating). I was very disappointed in this installment in the Irene Adler series. As a long time fan I have been quite disappointed in the last two books

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Summary: FASCINATING "take" on Jack the Ripper
Review: This is the sequel to Chapel Noir, and I think the two novels are the only ones ever to set women instead of men on the trail of the world's first notorious slayer of women. And what women they are! Douglas revived opera singer Irene Adler from the Sherlock Holmes story (the only woman to outwit him) as an actress/singer moonlighting as a "private inquiry agent" to make ends meet. An ex-Pinkerton agent in the U.S., Irene turned to serious detection when forced out of her performing career. She is up to outwitting Mr. Holmes again . . . and again, and indeed, Holmes and Irene and her allies are pursuing the Ripper by separate paths that are destined to meet.

Irene's allies include her loyal biographer, Nell Huxleigh, a prim Victorian parson's daughter thrown into a world of violent sex crimes with mind-expanding results, and a cheeky American girl found in a Paris brothel when the Ripper seems to have resurfaced in Paris a few months after the Whitechapel atrocities.

This is a whole new arena for the Ripper, and the chase in Castle Rouge leads to points east featured earlier in the series, such as legend-haunted Prague, and even farther east into Transylvania. It's no surprise that Dracula author Bram Stoker is along for the ride as both supporter . . . and suspect.

Not only does the book offer a whole new perspective on the Ripper murders, but a whole new and intriguing (though fictional) look at why Stoker wrote Dracula.

Both old and new characters reveal surprises as they meet challenge after challenge in what becomes, like the end of the novel Dracula itself, a race to rescue some of their own who have fallen into lethal hands. The plot twists and turns, coils and recoils. Quite a ride. Hang on!

This is a much darker, complex, and ambitious set of Adler books than Douglas' excellent earlier entries in the series (one was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), but it's based on historical fact beneath the fictional embellishments and provides a lot of insight on the thinking and even politics of the times. And even some of the series traditional humor shines through, as the very Victorian Nell encounters the worst of the real world in any age, and learns that she can face up to it. I must admit that she's a favorite character of mine, despite and maybe because of her socially inbred primness, and it's a pleasure to watch her grow. She may even be up to getting it on with dashing spy Quentin in future adventures. . . . Their relationship reminds me of the one between unconventional Victorian explorer/adventurer Richard Burton and his tradtional wife.

Go, girl, go!

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Summary: Weak follow-up to Chapel Noir
Review: What a disappointment this book turned out to be. With the cliffhanger ending of the excellent Chapel Noir, I'd been waiting for months to see what would happen next. Will Irene Adler catch Jack the Ripper? Will she rescue Nell? Who IS Jack the Ripper? Now that I've read the book, all I can say is, "Who cares?"

Weak writing, an endless parade of famous personalities of the late 1800's cluttering up the plot, and other improbable (silly) subplots thrown in the mix just plain ruined the fun.

Bottom line: skip this one. Maybe Ms. Douglas can try again later.

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Summary: A Top Pick of Bookclub magazine and deserves it!
Review: `Castle Rouge`, like it's precursor, `Chapel Noir`, is a thorough novel. The upside to such a book being that the reader is treated to intricate details, a strong sense of atmosphere, and dynamic characters. The downside, however, is that it doesn't become necessarily intriguing, or engaging for that matter, until you have passed the three hundred page mark. Having felt this way with `Chapel Noir' as well, I knew that if I were to wait out the novel I would be rewarded with a satisfying reading experience at the end. I was--and was not--correct in my assumption.

As `Chapel Noir's did, `Castle Rouge`s narration takes shape under the watchful eyes of numerous characters. Adler's constant companion, Nell, is back. Pink, an American journalist and temporary (not to mention annoying) sidekick, is also present with her side of the intrigue. The series of entries "found" in a yellow notebook show up again as well. However, new to `Castle Rouge' is Sherlock Holmes' confidante, Watson. His voice is one of the most sustaining aspects of the first half of the novel, which otherwise tends to be a tad slow-going, and the reader feels rather bereft when he no longer takes part in the telling of the story.

The arrival of Quentin Stanhope, around page three hundred and twenty, is when it starts to pick up pace. Irene and company get mobilized and begin to actively track the missing Nell and husband Godfrey. The focus on the Ripper at this time, though, isn't as strong. For that matter, throughout the whole of the novel the focus on the vicious killer becomes skewed. The story becomes more about the relationship between the various players and how they are dealing with whatever particular circumstance they find themselves in. To that end, I enjoyed meeting Godfrey and further found Bram Stoker to be a charming fellow.

However, the crime/mystery aspect seriously started to suffer. I felt that this novel wasn't one that invited the reader to solve the mystery. The yellow notebooks, our only direct clue to aid in answering the question of Jack the Ripper, are, in retrospect, misleading. And, ultimately, the claim made in terms of his identity was implausible to me. I read the afterword, shook my head, and had to read it again to make sure I had read it correctly the first time. Douglas, as far as I'm concerned, went way out on a limb, perhaps a bit too far. In general the actual climax happens too quickly when you think about the time and word count it took to get there and then on top of that the novel ends too abruptly for my taste. I kept searching the cover and author information to see if it mentioned another upcoming title in the series, but met with no such luck.

`Castle Rouge' is not the type of sequel that can be read independently; it relies heavily on occurrences in `Chapel Noir`. (And, as far as I'm concerned, earlier titles in the Irene Adler series as well.) But it is a must read for those that did indeed enjoy `Noir`. It is not as graphic and not quite as believable as the first installment. The character interaction was well-done and since I'm quite curious as to the nature of Quentin and Nell's relationship I will read the first titles in the series when they are re-released. Even though it was disappointing, I am glad to have read it.