The Agatha Awards

Good evening constant reader.

I'd like to introduce you to the Agatha Awards.

The Agatha Awards are bestowed for mystery and crime writers who write via the same method as author Agatha Christie  - closed setting, no sex or violence, and an amateur detective. The award is presented at an annual convention in Washington, D.C.,and are handed out by Malice Domestic.

Here are the winners for best novel since 2000.

2000 - Storm Track - Margaret Maron

2001 - Murphy's Law - Rhys Bowen

2002 - You've Got Murder - Donna Andrews

2003 - Letter From Home - Carolyn Hart

2004 - Birds Of A Feather - Jacqueline Winspear

2005 - The Body In The Snowdrift -  Katherine Hall Page

2006 - The Virgin Of Small Plains - Nancy Pickard

2007 - A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

2008 - The Cruelest Month - Louise Penny

2009 - A Brutal Telling - Louise Penny

2010 - Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny

2011 - Three-Day Town - Margaret Maron

Review: Good Night Mr. Holmes

Good Night Mr. Holmes
by
Carole Nelson Douglas
Available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, Borders.com and B&N and Borders retail bookstore locations.

In a nutshell, if you like mysteries set in Victorian England, with lots of spot-on period details and engaging/endearing characters, then this book is for you. And by the way, Victorian England in this instance does not equal boring and stuffy.

Before I get on with the review, no, this is not a horror, science fiction or fantasy novel, nor was it penned by an author just starting out, so yes, I freely broke out of my own set of reviewing parameters.

Carole Nelson Douglas is an accomplished author, with 61 books to her credit, amongst them her successful Midnight Louie mystery series, and this series, the Irene Adler mysteries.
I wanted to shine the spotlight on Douglas's Irene novels since we just saw the character of Irene Adler brought to life in the recent film, Sherlock Holmes.
Granted, Douglas's Irene was not the precise inspiration for the theatrical Irene; however, her books bring the reader a very likable and fascinating character and deserve to be read.

Irene Adler is "the woman" to Sherlock Holmes and the only woman to ever outwit him.
In Good Night Mr. Holmes, we meet Penelope Huxleigh, who is Irene's own Dr. Watson, and it is through her eyes we are told the tale.
Penelope and Irene meet on the streets of London after Penelope has been dismissed from her job at a fabric purveyor, homeless and penniless. Irene deftly saves Penelope from being accosted by a street urchin and the two end up taking a meal together, leading to Irene revealing her powers of observation concerning Penelope's circumstances. Rather taken aback, Penelope nonetheless accepts Irene's offer of lodging for the night and thus their friendship starts.

As the story progresses, we are introduced to Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Charles Tiffany & Anton Dvorak, which lend the tale a true-to-life air.
Missing jewels, a thought-to-be-lost personal possession and a widow's inheritance are a few of the mysteries Irene must solve, with Sherlock Holmes himself, haunting the background.
However, it is Irene's involvement with the Prince soon-to-be King of Bohemia that takes up the second half of the book and lays the groundwork for an interesting twist at the end.

Irene is clever, advanced in her way of thinking and acting for woman of her time, which makes reading this so enjoyable.

Good Night Mr. Holmes is a rousing start to an 8 book series and I intend to review the rest of the Irene books, so watch this space!

For more information on Carole Nelson Douglas, please visit:
http://carolenelsondouglas.com/

Coming soon to this blog

Good evening constant reader.

The purpose of The Written Universe is, primarily, to expose new authors to you the reader.

However, seeing as how this is my blog and I can review whatever I please, we're going to take that fabled left turn at Albuquerque.

In the coming weeks I intend to review a series of books, the Irene Adler mysteries by accomplished author Carole Nelson Douglas.
In 1990, Ms Douglas published her first Irene tale, Good Night Mr Holmes. It was my pleasure then, when the book came out, to host an author signing for Carole for this title. I read it and was completely enchanted with it.
After that came Good Morning, Irene, (1990, aka The Adventuress), Irene At Large, (1992, aka A Soul of Steel), and Irene's Last Waltz (1994, aka Another Scandal in Bohemia).
There followed 4 more Irene books, Chapel Noir (2001), Castle Rouge (2002), Femme Fatale (2003) and Spider Dance (2004).

What is so special about these books?
For starters, they're good, really good - Irene Adler as written by Carole Nelson Douglas is a strong, resourceful female character, one you can't help but enjoy.
Now that there is a major motion picture currently in theatres, Sherlock Holmes, and said film features the character of Irene Adler, I wanted to throw attention to Carole's books, and let you the reader know Irene has been given a different life in these books and deserves to be discovered.

I will go on record here and and state that I have not read the last 4 books in the series. However, that will be rectified as soon as possible.
In the meantime, I intend to re-read the first 4 books, and review them 2 at a time over a period of weeks.