What if Sherlock Holmes was a woman?
That’s the premise of Sherry Thomas’s A Study in Scarlet Women (2016). Charlotte Holmes lives with a dysfunctional family and yearns to use her exceptional talents despite a society that relegates most women to the kitchen.
Sherry Thomas, best known for her romantic novels, pulls off a careful balancing act in having Charlotte (aka, Sherlock) investigate a trio of unexpected deaths that might be murders. Given the strictures of the times, Charlotte relies on a kindhearted widow, an intelligent police inspector, and a powerful man from her past who still loves her to provide her with the means to probe into the three suspicious deaths.
Here’s part of a conversation Charlotte has with her sister, Livia, about Love and marriage: “Love is by and large a perishable good and it is lamentable that young people are asked to make irrevocable, till-death-do-we-part decisions in the midst of a short-lived euphoria.” Despite Charlotte’s turning down several proposals, Charlotte does love one man…who is unavailable.
I found it both difficult and intriguing to read about Charlotte trying to survive in London during such trying times. Charlotte is not yet the genius A. Conan Doyle invented. She is brilliant but inexperienced after spending her first 25 years in a sheltered, hostile household. Sherry Thomas convincingly creates opportunities for Charlotte to learn, grow, and develop what will be her true calling.
It won’t surprise you when I write that I’m presently in the process of accumulating all seven mysteries in the Lady Sherlock series. I enjoyed A Study in Scarlet Women and you might, too! GRADE: B
THE LADY SHERLOCK SERIES:
- 1. A Study in Scarlet Women. Berkley. October 2016. ISBN 9780425281406.
- 2. A Conspiracy in Belgravia. Berkley. September 2017. ISBN 9780425281413.
- 3. The Hollow of Fear. Berkley. October 2018. ISBN 9780425281420.
- 4. The Art of Theft. Berkley. October 2019. ISBN 9780451492470.
- 5. Murder on Cold Street. Berkley. October 2020. ISBN 9780451492494.
- 6. Miss Moriarty, I Presume?. Berkley. November 2021. ISBN 9780593200599.
- 7. A Tempest At Sea. Berkley. March 2023. ISBN 9780593200605.