Book Reviews (Formerly "Favorites"): A Study in Charlotte*

Hello, Friends!

I decided to change the title of this section to "Book Reviews" because, recently, I read a book I wanted to write a review on, but did not like.

This book, however, I did like. I have decided to start writing my book reviews slightly differently. First, I will give you a description of the book, then my rating, then pros and cons. So, here goes.

A Study in Charlotte, by Brittany Cavallaro, is told from Jamie Watson's perspective. Jamie is descended from the original Watson, Sherlock Holmes's friend and writer. At boarding school, Jamie meets Charlotte Holmes, a descendant of Sherlock. When a classmate of theirs is murdered, and they are framed, they have to work together to discover the real murderer before they both end up in jail. I rated this book four stars.

Pros:

I really like Jamie's voice.

Jamie and Charlotte are both similar enough to the original Holmes and Watson so you can clearly see the resemblance, in their personalities, their actions. . . However, unlike all the new books and TV shows of Sherlock, you can't complain (like I do) but Sherlock wouldn't do this, or Watson wouldn't say that, or Sherlock is too kind. . . because, they're the descendants of the original Holmes and Watson, so while they maintain some aspects of the original characters, all the things that don't fit in with the original personalities are attributed to Jamie and Charlotte having their own personalities, and being quite different.

The mystery was well-done and made sense.

Charlotte's deductions were thorough, and she made them the same way Sherlock made his, which was very nice.

There were multiple references to the original Sherlock Holmes. :)

The mention of Watson's errors in "The Speckled Band" left me curious to see a list of all the errors he made in recording Sherlock's mysteries.

Cons:

Swearing. Lots of swearing. I mean, I know they're in high school, and most high school kids swear a lot, but still. Really?

Drugs and alcohol. I know Sherlock was addicted to drugs, but, still. Sigh.

Inappropriate. There are ways the author could have avoided this. However, I understand it was part of the story, which gives it a little leverage, but. . .

Mixed messages. I'm not going to explain more of this. I don't know if certain messages were intentional. I don't know if the mixed messages were intentional. It seemed the book was supporting one major message which I don't agree with. Maybe I read it wrong, but that was a disappointment.

Overall, I am happy I read this book and I do not regret reading it. I thought it was really cool to write a book about Sherlock's descendants, and therefore avoid unhappy readers because, well, there will always be something wrong if an author other than Conan Doyle writes a Sherlock story.

However, if you read this book and enjoyed it, I recommend you do not read the second book. Well, at least until you read my review about it. I'll post it next month. :)

Thanks, and have fun reading!

Spruce Nogard

*Post actually written on June 25th. See here for details.

Attributions: https://www.amazon.com/Study-Charlotte-Holmes-Novel/dp/0062398903