A Study in Charlotte

A Study in Charlotte by debut author Brittany Cavallaro is the first book of her Charlotte Holmes series.

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 his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it is safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there's a tense energy between them, ans 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 Homes 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 only people they can trust are each other.

The Breakdown:
1. I really enjoyed Cavallaro's new spin on Watson and Holmes' story. It combined two of my favorite genres YA fiction and mystery.  I love that it used the old Sherlock Holmes stories in mysteries tying the old and new together.

2.  Enjoyed both the characters of Jamie and Charlotte.  In each I could see a little of ancestors, but they were also their own person and not cookie cutter Holmes and Watson. I loved that their first true meeting was so incredibly awkward. Two people who grew up knowing their family legacies, but it seemed neither really knew who to react to the other in their meeting.

3. Cavallaro provides an excellent cast of supporting characters for Jamie and Charlotte.  I particularly loved Lena, Charlotte's roommate, she is a little wild but very loyal to Charlotte it would seem.  I was also fond of Jamie's father.  He provided an interesting look into Jamie, with his desire to both re-contact with his son and to watch Charlotte and Jamie work on the murder.

4. Of course, what is a Holmes without a Moriarty.  Their families have a long, complicated history, and nothing is more complicated than Charlotte's personal history with them.  On top of the murder to solve, there is mystery of what exactly happened between Charlotte and August Moriarty.

5. This book was great mystery that kept me guessing, and I cannot wait to see where Cavallaro is going to take the series and the characters.

To Read or Not to Read:
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