Irene Adler

Irene Adler is a former opera singer and actress who is featured in the short story "A Scandal in Bohemia". She is one of the most notable female characters in the Sherlock Holmes series, despite appearing in only one story. While not technically a criminal, she outsmarts Holmes and evades his traps. Sherlock Holmes refers to her afterward respectfully as "the Woman." In the original Doyle story, Watson notes that Holmes has no romantic interest in Adler or in women in general, pointing out that the detective only exhibits a platonic admiration for her wit and cunning. However, some derivative works reinterpret Adler as a romantic interest for Holmes or as a former love who later regularly engages in crime.