a study in charlotte

Do you like clever YA books? You'll like A Study in Charlotte, then. It's gender-swapped teenlock (teenlock = stories about Sherlock Holmes in his teen years...that's something I learned from fandom!), and an adventure and a half. I’ve been making my way through the BBC show Sherlock verrrrry slowly, and I’ve read and watched several other Sherlock Holmes adaptations over the years too. Brittany Cavallaro’s take on Sherlock Holmes is familiar in that it is smart and full of mystery and murder, but it has enough details turned sideways to make for a fresh, fun take on the world’s favorite detective. 

a study in charlotte by brittany cavallaro book cover
The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

When the descendents of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet at posh boarding school Sherringford in New England, it's a recipe for drama. But anger-prone Jamie Watson and mysterious Charlotte Holmes didn't expect a murder investigation to bring them together. Or did they? Their term at Sherringford will be one of late night rendezvous, alibis and danger as the modern heirs of the original Watson and Holmes are drawn to each other and into a web of deception.

Things I liked about this book: first, although Jamie is predisposed to like his Holmes counterpart, he doesn’t (in my reading) fall prey to instalove, which was a nice surprise. Instead, he gets to know Charlotte, and it’s clear that he considers and accepts everything about her – flaws and failings included – when he insists on being her friend. Second, I really appreciated Cavallaro’s thoughtful framing of consent or lack thereof in sexual situations. This, paired with characters’ conflicting responses to the sex they (or others) are having (running the gamut from slut-shaming to assigning importance where there was none to casual acceptance and so on) made for a school culture that felt authentic.

On that note, I think one of the things Cavallaro excelled at was not only writing a book that people wouldn’t be able to put down (probably goal #1 for any book, tbh), but also in making it very of-the-moment, and genuinely young adultA Study in Charlotte is a Sherlock Holmes mystery updated for both the modern world and its audience. Jamie’s obsession with a person he has never met in person mirrored the truth of my own teen experience. Charlotte's self-destructive choices and eventual emotional growth make total sense in context for a high school kid. The gender-swapped characters paid homage to the Sherlock Holmes of the past but were clearly their own. The result? A fun riff on Arthur Conan Doyle’s signature creation that will appeal to those familiar with Holmes AND those who are not.

In all: A Study in Charlotte is a quick, fun read, and a marvelous distraction. I can’t wait to see what’s next in the sequel The Last of August (out next week!).

Recommended for: anyone who has enjoyed BBC’s Sherlock (even the non-readers!), and for fans of clever contemporary YA.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm still not sure what happened to me when I read this book. I wanted to love it but then in a lot of ways it didn't do as much as I expected. You mention the BBC Sherlock series in your review which I think is a great comparison but for me the characterization felt a little too close to that show--even with the alternate history and gender swapping. Or maybe I just was in a mood where I was predisposed to dislike it a bit? This is definitely a series I recommend but for my own reading I found Lock and Mori a little more exciting--maybe because it was Moriarty who was narrating?

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