A Scandal in Bohemia
"A Scandal in Bohemia" is the first short story, and the third overall work, featuring Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. It is the first of the 56 Holmes short stories written by Doyle and the first of 38 Sherlock Holmes works illustrated by Sidney Paget. The story is notable for introducing the character of Irene Adler, who is one of the most notable female characters in the Sherlock Holmes series, despite appearing in only one story.[1] Doyle ranked "A Scandal in Bohemia" fifth in his list of his twelve favourite Holmes stories.[2]
"A Scandal in Bohemia"
United Kingdom
English
June 1891
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was first published on 25 June 1891 in the July issue of The Strand Magazine,[3] and was the first of the stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1892.
Plot summary[edit]
The Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary King of Bohemia visits 221B Baker Street. The King explains that, five years earlier, he engaged in a secret relationship with American opera singer Irene Adler. He is set to marry a young Scandinavian princess but worries that her family will call the marriage off should they learn of this impropriety. The King seeks to regain a photograph of Adler and himself together which he gave to her as a token and which she now threatens to send to his fiancée's family.
The next morning, a disguised Holmes follows Adler and her soon to be husband Norton to a nearby church, where he is unexpectedly asked to be a witness to their wedding. Shortly afterwards, Holmes and Watson not only convince Adler to let Holmes into her home under a disguise, but fake a fire within her home leading her to reveal where the photo was hidden. That night after slipping away from Adler’s home, Holmes and Watson request that the King arrive at Adler’s home in the morning.
When Holmes, Watson, and the King arrive at Adler's house the next morning to retrieve the photograph, her elderly maidservant informs them Adler had left the country via train earlier that morning. Holmes goes to the photograph's hiding spot, finding a photo of Irene Adler in an evening dress and a letter addressed to him. In the letter, Adler tells Holmes she has left England with Norton and promises she will not compromise the King.
Watson concludes the story by noting that Holmes always referred to Adler by the honourable title of "the woman."
Publication history[edit]
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was first published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in July 1891, and in the United States in the US edition of the Strand in August 1891.[7] The story was published with ten illustrations by Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine.[8] It was included in the short story collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in October 1892.[8]
