Summary
Dr. Watson visits Sherlock Holmes, who shows him a letter he has received asking for his assistance. The writer of the letter appears in disguise, but Holmes recognizes him as the King of Bohemia. The King explains that five years ago he became involved with Irene Adler; now that he is engaged to be married, he fears that she will use a photograph showing him and her together as blackmail against him. He pleads for Holmes to retrieve the photograph.
Learning that Adler has just married Godfrey Norton, a lawyer, in a quick and inconspicuous ceremony, Holmes concocts a plan to determine where she has hidden the photograph of the King. Pretending to have been injured in a fight in front of Adler, he gains entrance to her house; then, at his signal, Watson throws in a smoke-rocket and yells that there is a fire. In the confusion, Adler rushes to secure the photograph, as Holmes had surmised she would, inadvertently revealing its location to the detective. Holmes slips out and informs Watson of his victory.
However, when the two, along with the King, go to Adler's apartment to retrieve the photograph, they discover that it is gone and that Adler has left a photograph of herself and a note to Holmes explaining that she caught onto his plan and escaped with the treasured object. Holmes admits his defeat but keeps Adler's photo, while the King is satisfied that Adler will not use his photograph against him.
Analysis
This first of the twelve stories in the collection is remarkable for being the only one in which Holmes is defeated by a more clever opponent and moreover the only one in which a woman is depicted as intelligent. There are many other schemers whom Holmes faces against in the other stories, but usually he is able to thoroughly best them in the end. It might be noted further, as Conan Doyle reveals to the reader by means of Adler's letter, that in Adler's case, her scheming was not simply out of her own villainy but perhaps more so as a need for self-defense against the King. This flips the usual clear-cut distinction between Holmes' client as benevolent and endangered, and Holmes' opponent as malevolent and in the position to inflict harm.
Thus, there was somewhat of a chance that Holmes, along with Watson, could have come out as aiding the "wrong" side in the matter. This is prevented by the fact that in Adler, Holmes is dealing with a master logician much like himself, who has a moral center despite also having a strong sense of mischief. The respect that Holmes shows Adler, as Watson tells us, and as is represented by his asking for her photograph in place of what could have been his largest payout from his highest socially ranked client, adds a depth to his character that is not always apparent in the other stories.
