A Study in Charlotte: A Review

A Study in Charlotte is Brittany Cavallaro's first book of the Charlotte Holmes and James Watson young adult series. Prior to this book, I have not read any other of her works so I was excited to find out what her style was like. While she has a poetry book called Girl King, this seems to be the public's most popular choice. 

I originally thought this was going to be a book through Charlotte Holmes’s perspective, but James is actually the narrator of the events. In this universe, the Sherlock Holmes books are based on real crimes and as you can assume by the last names, Charlotte and James are their great great great grandchildren. The two inevitably get drawn together when a student at Sherringford gets poisoned and killed and all students think they’re the murderers, because of a violent public display a few days prior. I have never read the original Sherlock Holmes stories but just like the title of the book (allusion to A Study in Scarlet)  the clues of the murder are taken from the Holmes tales for the two teenagers to identify and connect. 

Watson’s personality is likable enough but his infatuation with Charlotte who’s addicted to oxycodone and shows more robotic characteristics than human ones, seems hard to understand. Watson also seems to not have been developed as much, we know very little of his past and doesn’t display any particular skills or interest except for writing. On the other hand, I appreciate that Charlotte is a strong female character, extremely smart (obviously) and is overall more developed than Watson. She plays the violin, hates psychology, has a successful brother and numerous connection and not to mention her complicated past with an August Moriarty. 

The culprit of the murder is not a complete surprise but the cliche’ of “I’m going to explain all my criminal activities from top to bottom and sound like a total nutty revengeful person” is still alive and kicking and could have been prevented by taking a more creative route, such as being spiteful and keep mum about everything. 

My last criticism, which is more like a pet peeve, is that although the prose is compelling for a young adult novel, the chapters are extremely long and if you’re a busy person and always like to finish reading until the end of the chapter, some of the chapters can be as long as 40+ pages when it could have easily been split up in many more chapters.

It was a very easy read and I did enjoy the simple plot after reading such a complex novel like To the Lighthouse. Although I am not completely sold on the series, I would not be opposed to reading the second book The Last of August as I suspect August would be a thoroughly interesting addition to the story.