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    A Study in Charlotte
    A Study in Charlotte
    A Study in Charlotte
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Study in Charlotte

    Written by Brittany Cavallaro

    Narrated by Graham Halstead and Julia Whelan

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The first book in a witty, suspenseful new trilogy about a brilliant new crime-solving duo: the teen descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. This clever page-turner will appeal to fans of Maureen Johnson and Ally Carter.

    Jamie Watson has always been intrigued by Charlotte Holmes; after all, their great-great-great-grandfathers are one of the most infamous pairs in history. But the Holmes family has always been odd, and Charlotte is no exception. She’s inherited Sherlock’s volatility and some of his vices—and when Jamie and Charlotte end up at the same Connecticut boarding school, Charlotte makes it clear she’s not looking for friends.

    But when a student they both have a history with dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

    This production includes a bonus excerpt from The Last of August, the second audiobook in Brittany Cavallaro’s Charlotte Holmes Series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKatherine Tegen Books
    Release dateMar 1, 2016
    ISBN9780062417329
    Author

    Brittany Cavallaro

    Brittany Cavallaro is the New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Charlotte and the Charlotte Holmes novels. With Emily Henry she wrote the young adult thriller Hello Girls. Cavallaro is also the author of the poetry collections Girl-King and Unhistorical and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry. She lives in Michigan, where she teaches creative writing at Interlochen. 

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    Reviews for A Study in Charlotte

    4/5

    733 ratings63 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I had heard mixed reviews about this novel but i totally loved it... being a sherlockian i was really happy coming across this series... loved how the past was brought to the present time with the reenactment of famous Sherlock Holmes old cases and how his descendant seems to be a mirror image of him with all his antics and habits, the good and the bad... i also loved how attentive Jamie Watson was to her ...... all in all i can't wait to read more of their adventures ^^
    • 3/5
      3.5 this was a book absolutely outside my comfort zone but unexpectedly I quite enjoyed. REALLY GOOD STORY
    • 4/5
      A teenage James Watson tells this story about his meeting with Charlotte Holmes at a Connecticut boarding school. He has always been fascinated by the idea of her and made up adventures that the two of them had together. After all, they are both the many times great grandchildren of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. James doesn't want to be at that school. He was happy living with his mother and younger sister in London but the scholarship opportunity was too good to miss despite the fact that he will be living close to the father he has seen for a number of years. His father divorced his mother, remarried and now has two toddler sons. James hasn't forgiven his father for any of that.Charlotte has been more or less exiled to the school to get her out of Great Britain. Her parents have distanced themselves from her because they are disappointed in her. She has been to rehab many times for using cocaine, heroine, and oxy. However, she is also brilliant and regularly consults with Scotland Yard to solve crimes. When a student that both Charlotte and Jamie had run-ins with is murdered and it looks like they are being framed for the death, Charlotte and Jamie have to team up to find out the real killer. This was a great mystery but an even better story about friendship. Jamie is determined to make Charlotte his friend no matter how much she tries to discourage him because he sees how badly she needs a friend. He has a very stubborn loyalty which is often tested through the events of this story.Fans of mysteries and especially old or new fans of Sherlock Holmes will enjoy this beginning to a new trilogy.
    • 5/5
      This book was totally awesome on how she brought the Holmes and the Watsons together throughout history and how this likely couple found themselves in yet another dangerous adventure. She even brought into play the Moriaritys. She is ingenious in her tale telling and it has the w elements of Sir Arthur Canon Doyle. - Absolutely loved this book !
    • 5/5
      Love this variation on Sherlock Holmes. Both Charlotte and Jamie are such great, well-developed characters and I love their relationship.
    • 3/5
      This was more of 3,5 but that's not an option. I enjoyed it! It had some really funny bits and would totally recommend it!
    • 5/5
      had heard nothing but great things about the book, and was wondering if it would be worth it to listen to the audie. There have been times where I listened to the narrator with a British accent, and I shut the darn thing off because it put me to sleep. But this audie was definitely worth listening to.I wasn't expecting Jamie and Charlotte to become a couple in the book, but the relationship works and the timing was perfect. Charlotte possesses all of the traits that today's readers would associate with the typical "Sherlock Holmes" character: she hates her family, her brother Milo and her have a complicated relationship (at best), smoking, doing drugs, she lacks empathy, and has a knack for deducing.But she doesn't expect Jamie Watson. Jamie fantasizes about the great adventures that he and Charlotte would eventually have when he attends the same boarding school as her. However, Jamie must be chided for putting Charlotte up on a pedestal. I think Jamie has his own selfish expectations about what hanging out with Holmes would be; he wants to live out the stories that James Watson and Sherlock Holmes have done many years before. But Jamie realizes that Charlotte has her own problems that stem from this fame, and Charlotte comes to develop a strong and deep friendship with Jamie, which helps her break down her own boundaries and sees just how far she is willing to go when matters get very serious. Each have their own flaws, and that's one of the main components about why this adaption works. Some parts are heavy -- especially where the murderer talks about retrospectively planning Charlotte's rape and how Jamie & Charlotte can never really trust each other until the very end -- but somehow it works. It shouldn't, according to "the human laws of relationships", but it does.The animation that the narrator works into the telling of the story strengthens Jamie's character, and it provides cliffhangers when necessary. The epilogue, which is from Charlotte's point of view, is great in itself and I'm hoping we will see more books in the series, and more stories with multiple points of view (from Charlotte and Jamie together).
    • 4/5
      I checked out this book from the library to read for Forever Young (A local Bookclub I participate in monthly). ???? A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. Two young adults from London end up at the same American boarding school. One a female defendant of Sherlock Holmes the other a male descendant of John Watson. Cool coincidence? Doubtful. Charlotte Holmes and Jaime Watson are being framed for murder. Or more than one murder and maybe some other crimes that border felony charges. In the end there is almost a Romeo and Juliet to die for ending that quickly turns in a completely different direction. I loved the twists and turns in this one. Review also posted on Instagram @jasonnstacie, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Go Read, Amazon, and my blog at readsbystacie.com
    • 4/5
      A Study in Charlotte is a witty and captivating tale of a young Watson and Holmes that keeps you guessing with every turn of the page! In the spirit of Halloween, I thought a little murder mystery would get me in the mood! A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro was just the ticket. Now, I am terrible at deduction. I have seen some readers get a couple chapters into a book and instantly know who did it. HOW DO YOU DO THAT? I was left guessing and biting my nails down to the last page! Essentially, I was a prime candidate for a book like this! One element that stuck with me was how rough around the edges Charlotte was. Since she was young, she had mishaps and vices that sometimes got in the way. Those vices also lead to horrible events that reflects in how she interacts with other people. I liked that she wasn’t liked, that she wasn’t a picture perfect full figure character. Watson described Holmes, as angles and sharp lines and he prefered her that way. I’ve seen some other readers talking about the ‘likeability” of a main character. I think Charlotte broke that mold with her personality. She didn’t apologize for anything, and why should she have too? I really enjoyed A Study in Charlotte and can’t wait to read more of Watson and Holmes! Fortunately the sequel, The Last of August, is coming out February 2017!
    • 4/5
      One of excellent re-telling of my fav classic. It’s a 4.5
    • 4/5
      Loved the characters and the dialogue & the mystery was fun. I thought this was a YA, but it has too much language and sexual references for my teenager.
    • 5/5

      Like many of the other reviewers, I chose to read “A Study in Charlotte” because, as a fan of anything Sherlockian, the idea of a YA novel featuring two of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson fascinated me. I was not let down.

      The characters, Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes, were perfectly accurate to their famous forebearers; however, Brittany Cavallaro has chosen to add them to a modern setting which is more likely to appeal to YA readers. Personally, I adored Jamie and Charlotte; watching their relationship and interactions develop over the course of the narrative.

      As for the plot, I was hooked; I didn't want to put the novel down. Perhaps one of my favourite aspects of the plot was that the mystery itself was a tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle's books; taking bits and pieces from the Sherlock Holmes' mysteries.

      Overall, I truly loved "A Study in Charlotte," and I can't wait to see what the series has in store for Jamie and Charlotte.

      I would certainly recommend this book, especially if you are looking for an engaging mystery that isn't overly gruesome.
    • 4/5
      The first 3/4 of this book where amazing but the ending seemed out of place

    • 4/5
      Charlotte Holmes is the great, great, great granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes, and she has inherited his brilliant deductive mind and too many of his eccentricities. As a child she was already solving crimes, and now as a defiant teen she has been sent to the United States to a Connecticut Prep school; hopefully to keep her out of trouble. At the same school is Jamie Watson, he is the 3 times great grandson of Dr. Watson. Jamie is an attractive good guy who has inherited his 3 times great grandfathers’ talent for writing, and he also has a quick temper which gets him into trouble. When a student, whom Jamie fought with because of Charlotte, ends up dead; his suspicious death makes them look like prime suspects. Even though they barely know each other, they must work together to prove their innocence. I enjoy reading all things Sherlock. It’s interesting how different authors handle the genre. This book is fun and a bit challenging to read. The author keeps you on your toes as she leads you down the rabbit hole filled with clues and misdirects. She has left the door open for a sequel. My only caution for readers is that the teens swear frequently and there is a disturbing issue which I won’t tell because it would be considered a spoiler alert. 4 stars
    • 3/5
      Not a bad read but unless one is well-versed in Sherlock stories all the references to Sir Conan Doyle's work make it annoying.
    • 4/5
      Two 21st-century descendants of the Holmes and Watson clans meet at a Connecticut boarding school. It isn’t long before Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson are blamed for the murder of a fellow student. Will anyone, especially the police, believe they’re being framed? And who is behind it? Perhaps a Moriarty?Jamie Watson narrates most of the story, just as his ancestor did for Sherlock Holmes’s cases. Jamie is a much more believable teenager than Charlotte. It’s hard to buy into someone as young as Charlotte having so much knowledge and expertise in so many areas. Jamie’s back story had the most appeal for me. Jamie’s parents are divorced. He’s been living in London with his mother and younger sister. His father lives in Connecticut near the school with his new family. Jamie hasn’t seen his father in several years, and his peril provides an opportunity for them to reconnect.The crimes in the book are taken from the pages of the Holmes canon. The details include spoilers for several of the Sherlock Holmes stories: The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, and The Adventure of the Dying Detective. If you haven’t read the stories, the plot details of this book will be spoilery. If you have read these stories, naming them would be spoilery for this book.
    • 4/5
      4.5. Really well done.
    • 4/5
      A fun story. The audiobook narrator should problem lay off the bad Christian Slater impersonation though. There was a romantic element, but that's YA for you.
    • 3/5
      When I was about 40% through this book, I went to go read some reviews because I was having some mixed feelings and I was really surprised to see that so many people were talking about how fun this book was. I did not have fun with this book. This whole book was just fine. The plot was fine, the characters were fine (though I didn't really love Charlotte). I am clearly in the minority with this opinion so maybe read some other reviews if you're planning on picking this up.

      To start with the plot, I didn't really feel like the mystery got started until almost the 50% mark. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Sherlock Holmes style mysteries but I like fun YA mysteries but this was a bit too much like a Sherlock Holmes story for me. I think Cavallaro is going for a bit of a grittier YA book and I think if that's what you want, she did a pretty good job. It's just not what I was looking for. I wanted a fun mystery and instead I got a story about a drug-addicted 16 year old, which is an interesting story, but not really what I was expecting. The mystery itself was fine but somewhat predictable. Some things were surprising but there were several points I saw coming. This isn't a bad mystery, but definitely not mind blowing.

      My real issue when it came to my enjoyment was the characters. Charlotte Holmes is so similar to Sherlock that it was honestly a bit annoying to me. I tend to chafe against plots that imply that genetics are very valuable so the fact that our characters act just like their ancestors really bothered me. This book is written from Jamie's perspective and I don't know if it's just his hero worship of Charlotte, but his description of her made it seem like she was going through her "not like other girls" phase. It's fine by me if you have more unlikable main character, I just want to be curious about them and be engaged by their character and I just wasn't in this book. I didn't care much for Jamie either. He just seemed dull for the most part and then suddenly he would go through a fit of anger. He's not a bad narrator and I didn't hate Charlotte or anything, I just wasn't super engaged with their characters.

      This was a fine book and it's clear that a lot of people do like it and would like it. I wouldn't even necessarily be against reading the next book to see if it gets better for me personally but unfortunately, this one was a bit of a miss for me.
    • 3/5
      I would give this a 3.75. I enjoyed the story. I really liked Watson, but I'm not really sure how I feel about Charlotte just yet. I do plan on continuing the series. There is a copy cat killer at their boarding school that is copying from the old Sherlock Holmes books. Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes, the great-great-great-grandchildren of the original Holmes and Watson, are the prime suspects. All evidence points to them, so it is up to them to solve this mystery.
    • 3/5
      Content warning for this book: rape, on-page drug use, eating disorder.Jamie Watson is a descendant of the John Watson who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, and he's spent his whole life fantasizing about meeting Charlotte Holmes, the one descendant of Sherlock Holmes who's his age, and becoming her friend and sidekick. When he gets sent to Sherringford, an American prep school, the one bright spot he clings to is that it's the same school Charlotte attends. Unfortunately, he has no idea how to talk to her, and she doesn't seem at all interested in talking to him. Then a student they both hated is murdered in a way that references a Sherlock Holmes story, and they're the prime suspects.I really wanted to love this. I'm drawn to Sherlock Holmes-inspired books (despite only having read a small fraction of the original stories) as well as YA mysteries, so this seemed perfect for me. Unfortunately, I really disliked how Cavallaro handled the Watson and Holmes aspect, particularly Jamie's attitude.Jamie seemed to think that the Watson and Holmes friendship was something one could inherit, like eye color. He'd meet Charlotte, they'd instantly bond, and trust and loyalty would soon follow. When things didn't initially turn out like he'd expected, I'd hoped he'd learned his lesson. Unfortunately, then the murder happened, and he and Charlotte did spend a lot of time together and start to bond. And then it was like he felt he was owed all the rest, even though he and Charlotte had really only known each other for a few days/weeks.Every time he stumbled across something Charlotte hadn't told him, he got upset because she hadn't trusted him with all of her secrets and whole life story. To be fair, Charlotte also annoyed me. After a certain point, she treated Jamie like his unquestioning loyalty was a given, no matter how much she kept from him or how often she lied. I suspect that she, too, had some ancestry-based expectations about their relationship.I do generally like the kind of character dynamic Cavallaro set up - the brilliant but icy and emotionally damaged detective paired up with a supportive sidekick who reminds them to eat and hydrate. And Cavallaro did make an effort to present Charlotte and Jamie's relationship as something that had a bit of time to grow and deepen. I particularly liked hearing about the little things they did together when they weren't in the thick of investigating murders, like the time Jamie bought Charlotte a big bag of candy when he learned she'd never been allowed to have any.Even so, their friendship bothered me a lot. It didn't help that supposedly Charlotte and Jamie were each other's first friends (this is debatable - I personally think Charlotte, at least, just couldn't recognize what friendship was, because Lena sure seemed like her friend to me). They both desperately needed something in their lives that had nothing to do with their famous ancestors' lives and experiences. Instead, they had family members who went out of their way to encourage them to be together and continue the Holmes and Watson family traditions.The ending had an "everything but the kitchen sink" feel to it, complete with a villain monologue and dastardly time-sensitive deeds. I don't know - I kept thinking I'd have liked this book a lot more if Charlotte and Jamie had been written as a modern Holmes and Watson, but without the ancestral baggage and Holmes and Watson having existed as real people in their world. But even that probably wouldn't have fixed a few other aspects of the story that bothered me. For example, Charlotte's eating disorder, which I don't think was ever referred to that way. But what else do you call it when a person thinks it's perfectly normal and okay to have last eaten yesterday, and takes 20 minutes to eat a single almond when they do eat? She should have barely had the energy to move, and yet there were multiple scenes in which she was faster and more nimble than Jamie - her eating disorder was presented more like an amusing quirk than something that would have had actual physical consequences. Overall, here were a bunch of really heavy and serious aspects to Charlotte's history and behavior that I don't think were handled as well as they could have been.This wasn't terrible and did have several enjoyable moments, but I don't plan to read the next book.(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
    • 4/5
      What if the fictional Holmes and Watson were real people? What if they had families that were still around generations later? These speculations are the basic premise of this series. Jamie Watson is sent to America to a new school on a rugby scholarship. This same school just happens to have Charlotte Holmes as a student. They've never met, and Jamie would like to meet her. Oh, and his dad's family is also close by. Jamie's never met the new wife and his half siblings, either, but doesn't want to meet them. Jamie and Charlotte's first encounter is not exactly "meet cute," and it sets up a complicated relationship. They are accused of murder and set about to clear themselves.

      I enjoyed this mystery. It had light moments that made me laugh. But I also worried about Charlotte's Oxy addiction. It's dealt with just like teens might deal with a friend who using, but adults know about it, and don't step in. I wonder what will happen with it later in the series. I'm vested, so I'll be finishing this one, but at a later date.
    • 4/5
      In this book we are introduced to the descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson – Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson. The story parallels the original Holmes stories in the sense of it being told from Watson’s point of view. Jamie has left London to attend boarding school in Sherringford, Connecticut and it just so happens that Charlotte Holmes is a student at the same school. Of course, they cross paths briefly… just before the school is rocked with a campus murder, which they’re being framed for. So now the pair has to team up in order to solve it and clear their names.

      First of all, I love Jamie so much! He is just all-around lovable and that’s pretty much the only way I can describe him. He’s smart, though probably not up to Charlotte’s eccentric standards, but he’s a quick learner and finds that sometimes being kept in the dark works better to pull out the truth in others. Meanwhile Charlotte is a complete enigma, like her ancestor, and you slowly figure out a part of her through her recent history… which helps to make sense of why she acts the way she does (but not completely). What I enjoy most about Charlotte is how quickly she’s able to connect the dots to figure out the bigger picture and get into other people’s heads without them even realizing she’s doing so.

      The friendship with this newly formed, yet classic duo is a bit rocky, as Jamie doesn’t always know what Charlotte’s motives are or if he can really even trust her. Though it often works out that he doesn’t know everything that’s going on… as Charlotte says, it makes his reactions more genuine. Still, I sympathize with him about being out-of-the-loop because that’s never fun.

      Overall I loved this book. I’ve never read any of the Sherlock books before – I’ve only ever watched the different shows and movies that gave me an initial knowledge of the characters. However, now I do wish to read the tales, especially because a few are mentioned in this particular book and it will be interesting to read the original stories of Holmes and Watson compared to this modern take on their descendants.
    • 3/5
      This young-adult mystery centers on James Watson and Charlotte Holmes, modern-day descendants of the famous literary detectives. James has recently arrived at a New England boarding school from England, and he is not terribly excited about being there, but as a Watson he is excited to meet a daughter of the Holmes family. When a classmate is murdered in a manner resembling a classic Sherlock Holmes story, the two begin to band together in an attempt to find the culprit--especially as it quickly becomes clear that the two are being framed for the crime and that they may both be in danger themselves.I thought that this was a cute concept for a book, and I thought that the world of the school was well-developed. I thought that the story was nice and quick, and I appreciated that, though the book's the first in a series, it could stand on its own pretty well. It didn't blow me away, but I had a fun time with it.
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I've read in a long time. I loved how complex the characters were, and how issues of sexual assault, family abuse and dysfunction, and other important issues were explored. This book was so much more than I expected, and kept surprising me with its twists and turns, and how damn good the writing was!
    • 5/5
      ...I began wondering if there was some kind of Watsonian guide for the care and keeping of Holmeses.

      *flappy hands*

      Hands down, the best Holmes and Watson...adaptation?...I've ever had the pleasure of reading. By turns amusing, dark, cute, heartbreaking, and fun as hell.

      OF COURSE, there's a riveting mystery here (murder most foul at a prep school), but the real meat of the novel is the partnership and growing friendship between this Watson (Jamie, an honorable, rugby-playing stalwart, as usual) and this Holmes (Charlotte, a violin-playing, drug-addicted eccentric, also as usual). Watson is great at respecting Holmes's boundaries while making sure she doesn't entirely run herself into the ground. And of course, they're teenagers, so there's a hint of romance, but it's completely overridden by the splendor of their glowing friendship.

      My one complaint is that there isn't more of this duo IMMEDIATELY.
    • 2/5
      Do you ever have those books where you love the plot outline, but other elements keep the book from being a new favorite? A Study in Charlotte is one of those books for me. If this were just a novel about two high school kids involved in a mystery, it might be ok. However, I found too many issues for it to be a really good Sherlock Holmes spin-off.
      There are murders, which could have been interesting, but this book kept getting all tangled up in its own plot line. Jamie and Charlotte worked with the police but also tried to keep ahead of them in the investigation, both of which I thought should have done more cooperation with the police instead. And what police force would have let two 18-somethings take the lead on these investigations, regardless of who their families were, or what connections they have.....? Come on...!
      There were twists and turns that I caught early on, not any real surprises at all. A Study in Charlotte took many of the plots of the original Sherlock Holmes stories and threw them all in there, together. I kept on trying to get through it, hoping it would get better..... And it was ok.

      Character-wise, I wasn't quite in love with Charlotte. She was a bit too much of a caricature to me at times, and also too stiff and predictable. I love when characters burst off the pages. Jamie was pretty good though, but a little two-dimensional at times. They'd both benefit from a little character development in future books, if the author gives them to time to, and has the talent for this.

      I know this novel deal with some slightly older teens who are away at college. And I know full well what goes on at these colleges. But I thought this novel handled the theme of date rape very clumsily, and Charlotte didn't get the help she needed for this. They mentioned it a couple times, and then it was back to the mystery solving caper. The only real issue she had after this trauma was that Jamie could hug or hold her, but not often, and not for long. Nothing else.
      Also, there's a lot of drug use that's treated fairly casually, which I'm not okay with at all, regardless of who/what the novel is about. I understand that Sherlock Holmes himself used a 7% cocaine solution, at times, out of boredom. I know also that the character Charlotte had been mentioned a few times, to have been in and out of rehab many times, which I thought was a little unreal, for a girl of her age. And when she got really upset at Jamie, she just reached into her false boot heel, grabbed some OxyContin, and got high...... What, she could realistically resist the temptation, at all other times....?? And the whole time she was high and Jamie was holding her, it was just something that happened. No big deal. Jamie's love and utter adoration never waned, and in fact the poor boy blamed himself for Charlotte's sudden fall off the wagon. Jamie did NOT get help for her, nor did he tell his father, whom they were staying with. And the next day, she was just fine, no side effects from being high what-so-ever. (Which I would think is completely unrealistic). And through the end of the novel, Charlotte did have one single craving, nor addiction pains, nor want of any more drugs. She was just......done. And supposedly, at the very end, totally clean. (Or until the next big upset, I guess). I know, I know....! Sherlock had, and Charlotte Holmes struggles with addiction, too. But...she just uses, and, the book doesn't really decided what we're supposed to do with that information. Like, drugs are bad, kids, don't do drugs!!! But no one really seemed to think they needed to help Charlotte. It was just "Poor Charlotte, doomed to be addicted to drugs because the original Sherlock Holmes was". HOW ABOUT WE TRY AND HELP THIS KID AND GET HER SORTED OUT?!?!?
      So when finished, I feel this unneeded drama in the plot was completely unnecessary, very juvenile, and entirely not a plot development.
      Don't even get me started on my other issues with the novel......The novel just breaks too many Sherlock Holmes rules:
      1. Holmes never, ever uses drugs while on a case. Ever. Never mind that folks may have an issue with a 15 year old using highly addictive opiates.
      2. Holmes and Watson never, ever have a romantic interest in each other. Regardless of the gender makeup of these two, romance just doesn't play out well. For one, Holmes is suppose to be mostly devoid of emotion and incapable of forming relationships.
      3. Holmes needs Watson. In this case, Watson really didn't fill any particular need or hole. There wasn't a particularly driving reason for them to be together other then their families' connection. (And the fact that Watson has the hots for Charlotte Holmes. And in a big, bad way, also. This will only cause issues later on, in the series.)
      4. In this universe, Arthur Conan Doyle DID write the books...but also Sherlock and Watson are not fictional characters. My brain didn't really understand how that connected. Plus it wasn't ever explained.
      5. The mystery is interesting and all...but it features a) the dreadful villain info-dump at the end which is so cliche, and b) info dumps everywhere all the time. Argh.
      6. THEY NEVER EXPLAIN HOW SHERLOCK HOLMES HAD CHILDREN. Um, last I knew, he didn't even really like women.....? How is this possible...!!!

      Also, I would just be getting into the book a bit when a discrepancy would occur, like describing a room as a (large) closet, then filling it with bookshelves, a lab, a loveseat, large utility sink, etc. for me, it just didn't equate. Or having a family employ the handsome young adult son of an enemy family to tutor their young, impressionable, teenage daughter. Regardless of how smart she supposedly was, that was dumb. And then, to have this young man supply her with drugs, JUST because she insisted on it....? What was the author thinking? Or when the killer wrote a note (in a very girlie font, btw, and covered in sickly-sweet perfume) saying that Jamie would die unless Charlotte got rid of him, and so she does.....and then just sits there, waiting for the murderer to come along and kill her....??? As if...!

      The only things I can say that this novel has going for it, is the totally delicious English voices of Graham Halstead and Gloria Whelan, in the audiobook. What-ho...!

      After finishing this novel, I went to amazon to see how others liked it. (5 stars? You're kidding, right...?). And that's when I found out the worst thing of all: THIS BOOK IS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN AGES 9 AND UP. OK, so I kinda knew without knowing beforehand, that this novel would have been better marketed for a slightly younger audience. BUT CHILDREN...??? No, just no. Sorry, nope. Nuh-uh!!! WRONG....!!!!! (I swear I didn't know this beforehand, or I wouldn't have bothered reading the novel.)

      So anyway, IF you want something light to read, that's marketed for older children and younger teens, that doesn't tax the mind at all, or even have those pesky little nuisances like 'actual reality' creeping into the storyline, then this book is for you. Myself, I'm rather put out that I spent the evening with this novel, when my time would have been better spent elsewhere. I mean it's not horrible, exactly........but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone I know, either. 2 stars.
    • 5/5
      This book was totally awesome on how she brought the Holmes and the Watsons together throughout history and how this likely couple found themselves in yet another dangerous adventure. She even brought into play the Moriaritys. She is ingenious in her tale telling and it has the w elements of Sir Arthur Canon Doyle. - Absolutely loved this book !
    • 4/5
      This was a fun twist on a Sherlock Holmes mystery with young adults as the main characters. Of course, a mystery ensues and figuring whodunnit is the fun part. I think this book wuld be a great way to introduce teens to the classic mystery writer, Sherlock Holmes. The characters were interesting takes on Watson and holmes, and the mystery is intriguing.
    • 3/5
      I have mixed feelings on this book. I almost really liked it, but some parts were a struggle and overall it felt really forced. I think it was too much like a classic Sherlock Holmes story and wasn't original enough. I'd probably like the characters more after a second story with them.