Category 21: A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author
A Study in Scarlet Women
Author: Sherry Thomas
Publisher: Berkley Books
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: October 18, 2016
Page count: 323
Genres: mystery, historical, adaptation
Page count: 323
Genres: mystery, historical, adaptation
Date read: April 25, 2018
Number of times read: 1
Format: audiobookSource: Waterloo Public Library
Summary
With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London.
When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her.
But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.-- via Goodreads
With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London.
When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her.
But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.-- via Goodreads
Review
What is Sherlock Holmes was actually a pseudonym for a female detective named Charlotte? That's the question Asian-American author Sherry Thomas used to create this story. When I read this I originally gave it a 4-bolt rating. So clearly I really enjoyed it, the problem I am running into now, coming to this review after 8 months and however many books in between is that I find I can't remember all the details. That makes it hard to review properly, but I will certainly try. The other problem is that I also read House of Silk around the same time period, and that's another Sherlock Holmes adaptation, so I'm worried about getting the details of the two cases mixed up haha.
What fascinated me the most about this take on Sherlock was the character of Charlotte, she becomes the titular scarlet woman. By the Victorian standards of her time, she is most definitely a feminist. And her behaviour is certainly outside of the norm for women of her era in several regards. She is an intellectual(obviously), but she's also sexually adventurous and spurns societal norms and niceties. She finds an ally in the similarly socially spurned window Mrs Watson, a former actress who becomes her business partner in addition to being her close friend. Charlotte and Mrs Watson come up with a creative way for Charlotte to set up her consulting detective business. They create the character of Sherlock Holmes and set Charlotte up as his sister who speaks to his clients for him. They do very well with it until Charlotte has to interact with someone who actually knows her.
It's very interesting to watch Charlotte move through the various aspects of Victorian culture, from running away from home to being chased out of a boarding house, scandal follows her very closely. Even though Charlotte is a woman and ends up in very different circumstances than her original Male inspiration, you can still see Conan Doyle's Sherlock in her personality, and in that regard, it's a very well done adaptation. It doesn't really adapt the story of A Study in Scarlet though from what I remember of that story. It really just takes the name and plays with it well telling a completely different story for Charlotte. This book is very much an origin story and reads as such.
The one thing I would give it lost points on is the actual mystery because it has not stuck in my head, it's the one thing about this book that I can't actually remember.
What do you do when you find yourself unable to recall plot points of a book you remember really enjoying?
What fascinated me the most about this take on Sherlock was the character of Charlotte, she becomes the titular scarlet woman. By the Victorian standards of her time, she is most definitely a feminist. And her behaviour is certainly outside of the norm for women of her era in several regards. She is an intellectual(obviously), but she's also sexually adventurous and spurns societal norms and niceties. She finds an ally in the similarly socially spurned window Mrs Watson, a former actress who becomes her business partner in addition to being her close friend. Charlotte and Mrs Watson come up with a creative way for Charlotte to set up her consulting detective business. They create the character of Sherlock Holmes and set Charlotte up as his sister who speaks to his clients for him. They do very well with it until Charlotte has to interact with someone who actually knows her.
It's very interesting to watch Charlotte move through the various aspects of Victorian culture, from running away from home to being chased out of a boarding house, scandal follows her very closely. Even though Charlotte is a woman and ends up in very different circumstances than her original Male inspiration, you can still see Conan Doyle's Sherlock in her personality, and in that regard, it's a very well done adaptation. It doesn't really adapt the story of A Study in Scarlet though from what I remember of that story. It really just takes the name and plays with it well telling a completely different story for Charlotte. This book is very much an origin story and reads as such.
The one thing I would give it lost points on is the actual mystery because it has not stuck in my head, it's the one thing about this book that I can't actually remember.
What do you do when you find yourself unable to recall plot points of a book you remember really enjoying?
Overall Rating
 |
| 4 bolts |
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