Sherlock Season 2 News

Sherlock fans have been clinging to a mere 3 episodes for almost a year now. Any crumbs of news about the next set help calm the manic frustration.
Most of you have probably heard the 3 major Holmes stories that Moffat has said this season is going to cover. It's an ambitious line up: A Scandal in Bohemia which introduces "The Woman," Irene Adler; The Hound of the Baskervilles, Doyle's best novel and one of the most adapted stories ever written; and The Final Problem where Holmes has his cross-country battle with Moriarty ending in Switzerland at the top of Reichenbach Falls. All of these stories have slightly adjusted titles for their episode names: A Scandal in Belgravia, The Hounds of the Baskerville, and The Reichenbach Fall.
The most recent bits of news have been about the anticipated air dates and the casting of Irene Adler.
Unfortunately the originally optimistic "Fall 2011" for season 2 has now been pushed back by the BBC to "Winter 2011." After a recent encore of all three episodes this date change was announced, but the hoped for season 2 trailer has not come to light yet. Word is that some American PBS stations won't be showing the new series until as late as May 2012. I find that absurd, British viewers shouldn't be surprised if American friends beg for them to mercifully upload it onto YouTube.
There has been a lot of speculation over the casting of the character Irene Adler for the first episode of the season. Emily Blunt, Rosario Dawkins, many American and British actors have been suggested as good possibilities. This week I've heard that Laura Pulver will be taking the role. Pulver is known for her roles on the American series True Blood and the recent British production of Robin Hood.
She is a very striking actress and I'm curious to see both her take and the writer's take on how the character adapts to a modern setting. She is a little older than many of the speculated actresses, but that may add interesting overtones to the character. I am a little disappointed that they didn't choose an American actress, as the character is from New Jersey in Doyle's original story.

Goodnight Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas

Goonight Mr. Holmes: An Irene Adler Novel tells the story of Sherlock Holmes' worthy opponent from the short story "A Scandal in Bohemia," Irene Adler. According to the short story, "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman."
The story is told from the perspective of Penelope Huxliegh, the daughter of a country curate, she finds herself orphaned and out of the job in the middle of London. When Irene Adler rescues her from an urchin trying to steal her bag, the two soon become friends and roommates. She is, in a sense, Irene's Watson. Her friend and biographer that helps keep her grounded.
Penelope or Nell is a very interesting and well rounded character in her own right, a good creation on the part of Douglas. She assists Irene, who enjoys solving problems, solving puzzles, and finding missing items for people while she waits for her opera career to take off. Among Irene's friends and clients are historical figures such as Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and the famous jeweler, Mr. Tiffany. Though it's clear that Irene's focus is her musical career, rather than detective work, she has trouble resisting the lure mysteries such as that surrounding a spectacular length of diamonds that has been missing for several generations.
Douglas's novel shows that there were several times when Adler nearly met Sherlock Holmes, their paths narrowly crossing before the events of "Scandal."
The novel creates a rich background to Adler's life before she finds herself involved with the King of Bohemia, how and why she flees his company, and how she tricked Sherlock Holmes and escaped England.
It's a loving tribute to a fantastic character that has captured readers' imaginations more than any other woman from Doyle's canon. Indeed, perhaps it is a kind of literary justice that Adler has been incorporated into so many stories by other authors. The way Douglas presents the story allows her to show the mutual fascination between Holmes and Adler without pushing a romantic relationship between them. However, Godfrey Norton, the man Adler eventually marries plays a big part and also become a much more rounded character than Doyle originally wrote.
Douglas also pulls the classic "I'm not the author, I'm the editor" gimmick, creating the illusion of the story coming straight from Penelope's diaries, and even a few portions from Dr. Watson's journals not previously published. It's a common enough style of presenting this sort of thing- Laurie King does something similar with her Mary Russell series. Douglas's post-script to the novel lays it on a little thick, however.
Overall, a good read for fans of Adler that wish she had been more developed. It is an interesting story that paints a portrait of friendship just as appealing as the classic relationship between Holmes and Watson, but in this case exploring a feminine version of this friendship, between Irene and Penelope.