A Scandal In Bohemia - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1 - by Arthur Conan Doyle

 First Published: June 25, 1891

RATING: GOOD

SPOILERS!!!

Dr Watson visits Sherlock, who tells him that he is expecting the visit of someone who left him a very mysterious note. The man, wearing a mask, arrives, and when Sherlock guesses that he is the king of Bohemia, the man decides to be honest with him. The king (Wilhelm) tells him that he had a relationship with a woman called Irene Adler, and she has a photograph of him and her together. Now that he is getting married, the woman threatens to make the photo public. Everything has been tried to find the photo but everything has been in vain.

Sherlock says that he will try to sort out the problem. The next day when Watson meets him, Sherlock is wearing a costume to look like a groom. He says that he has gone to Irene Adler's address and has talked to people. The woman is an opera singer who lives a quite life, and she gets the visit of a man, Godfrey Norton. Then Sherlock watcched the house and saw the man get into the house. Thirty minutes later he left and stopped a cab, telling the cabman to take him to St Monica's Church, and some minutes later Irene came out, and her driver stopped and she told him to take her to the same address. Sherlock decided to follow them, and when he got into the church, Irene called his attention. They were about to get married and needed a witness, and Sherlock did the job.

Now Sherlock Holmes tells Watson that they need to act before things change and they can't find the photo. He tells Watson that they will go to the house, and when he gains entrance to the house, he will open the window and Watson is to throw a smoking rock. When they get there, Holmes is dressed as a vicar. There are people around, and when Irene comes out, some men come closer and attack Sherlock, and he is left bleeding on the ground. Irene takes him inside, and as he promised, the window is open by a maid, and Watson hurls the smoking stone. Sherlock calls fire, and then he says it has been a false alarm.

When Sherlock leaves and meets Watson, he says that he knows where the photo is. He reasons that when a fire threatens to destroy your possessions, you reach for what you value most, and Irene moved towards the fireplace where he knows by pulling a rope there is a secret place. The next morning Sherlock, Holmes and the king go to the house, and they discover that Irene has left, and she has left a letter for Sherlock, saying that she suspected that the king would hire the best detective. So when he pretended to be hurt and cried fire, she knew who he was. Now she and her husband have left, but she has no intention to do anything against the king, but she keeps the photograph as a safeguard.

After this adventure, Sherlock expresses his admiration for such intelligent woman who outsmarted him.