Watson and Holmes

Just about everyone in the English-speaking world-and I imagine some in the non-English-speaking world-knows the name Sherlock Holmes.  If one hasn't read the original mysteries penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1800's and early 1900's, then they've seen the movies or the BBC show Sherlock.  However, Brittany Cavallaro has reinvented the famous detective for "young adults."

At twenty-five, I still count as a young adult right?

Anyway.  Cavallaro's Holmes is the teenage, boarding school student Charlotte.  She is just as eccentric as her ancestor, complete with violin, deductive skills, and drug problems.  She is sent to Sherringford Academy for a not really talked about situation with a Moriarty (more on that later).  Of course, the original stories are told by Dr. John Watson, and so the Charlotte Holmes trilogy is not complete without it's own Watson--fifteen year old Jamie Watson.  Jamie, who lives in London with his mother and sister, lands at Sherringford due to a rugby scholarship.  With both a Watson and Holmes in residence, the game is afoot!

The first book in the series is A Study in Charlotte, and takes place during the fall semester at Sherringford.  When Watson's temper pushes him to punch another student and that student ends up dead, Watson and Holmes find themselves framed for murder.  As they work together to try and solve the crime, Watson finds himself more and more frustrated by trying to figure out the enigma that is Holmes.  He truly believes that he and Holmes are meant to be together as friends at the very least because they are Watson and Holmes.  However, they finally manage to have a "big bonding moment", in which we learn that Holmes has as much of a crush on Watson as he does on her, but she has no idea what to do about it because her childhood was really quite dreadful.  After this, they manage to solve the mystery and find out that there were Moriarty's behind the case!

Professor Moriarty was, of course, Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis.

In Charlotte Holmes' time there are four important Moriarty's--Lucian, Phillipa, Hadrian, and August.  These four characters are important in the plot line of the second novel in the trilogy, The Last of August.  In this second book, Watson and Holmes are in England for Christmas, and end up at the Holmes' estate in Sussex with their relationship on the rocks.  Here we learn about the rather.... unorthodox... fashion in which Charlotte grew up and her family members.  She is not particularly close to either of her parents--Alistair and Emma--but has a fairly close relationship with her brother, Milo (who appears in A Study in Charlotte , but not as much as in this book).  However, Charlotte's favorite relative is her Uncle Leander, the only normal Holmes in the bunch and a close friend of Watson's father.  Leander is working on an art forgery case in Germany, but retreats to Sussex to talk to Alistair Holmes, and to meet Watson.  When he goes missing, Watson and Holmes head to Berlin and Milo.

Back to the Moriarty's.  Moriarty A, the villain from A Study in Charlotte, is being watched closely in Thailand.  Moriarty's B and C are heavily into the art crime scene in Berlin, and Holmes' suspects that they are behind her beloved uncle's forgery case and his disappearance.  Milo sends the pair off with the perfect guide to the Moriarty's and the art world--August Moriarty.  You learn about midway through the first book that August faked his death to separate from his family, and ended up working for Milo.  He's a bit of an aberration in the Moriarty family, wanting peace with the Holmes' and not wanting to be part of the criminal world.  August's presence drives a wedge further between Watson and Holmes.  As The Last of August unfurls, you begin to question if everything and every relationship is as it appears, and if the motivations that are presented for things are true.

But the ending.  The ending leaves you with a pit in your stomach.  I don't want to spoil it, but its truly an implosion in the characters' lives, leaving the third as-yet-unpublished book to clean it up.   I'm quite looking forward to The Case for Jamie's publication in March, 2018.  I really don't want to wait that long, but it is what it is, and there is plenty to read in the meantime.

I would recommend for anyone to read these books, as long as they are over the age of about fifteen.  There is some adult subject mater (mostly in drug addiction and rape trauma), but it is handled well enough that it does not become the main topic of the book but rather pieces that make characters who they are.  They are fairly quick reads.  I took my time on them and it still only took me about two days a book.  Getting started in each book is the hardest part, but then it drags you in.  They are great mysteries in the traditional Sherlock Holmes fashion!