A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

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Publication date: 2016
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 321
My rating: 2.5 stars
Ages:16+

James "Jamie" Watson is a descendant of Dr. Watson--as in Holmes and Watson. Jamie thinks of Charlotte Holmes as his best friend before he ever meets her. When they both end up at the same school, Watson thinks they are going to go on all sorts of adventures. Unfortunately, he didn't think that was going to involve a murder where he is the number one suspect.

The characters were interesting and I really liked how it is set it in a world where the original Holmes and Watson were real people. Sometimes Jamie was a little annoying with his mooning and general teen angst. Charlotte was exactly what you would expect from a Holmes, which anyone knows can in itself be exasperating.

The mystery itself was a little complicated and hard to follow, in my opinion. And I found myself confused over either Jamie or Charlotte's actions/reactions. I found myself having to go back and read the previous page several times to understand what was going on. I feel that the story, even a mystery, should be easy to follow and understand. Also, some events at the end seemed a little contrived, like Cavallaro was trying to fulfill some kind of requirement for teen novels. I would have liked it better without it.

There was a lot of language and sexual dialogue, including talk about a rape.

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