In 1886 London, Irene Adler along with Penelope Huxleigh and Oscar Wilde, at Wilde's request, go to investigate a mad painter, Lysander Parris, who is locked in his studio and busy painting a dead woman, Phoebe Miller, the maid. Irene interviews Amelia Parris, his wife who sells hat boxes to make ends meet, Lawrence, his son, and Mrs. McCorkle, the housekeeper. Parris is a master at painting with greens, hence Parris green. Parris green is a chemical used to keep blues in wallpaper from bleeding.