I love all things Sherlock Holmes, and this Sherry Thomas adaptation plays right into this fascination.
What Thomas has done is take the traditional Sherlock characters in their traditional time period but twisted the roles. Sherlock Holmes is now the pseudonym of Charlotte Holmes, who has a brilliant mind stuck in a classically beautiful body. She goes to drastic measures to get out from under her parents expectations of marriage (think purposefully engaging in relations with a married man and getting caught) and ends up running away from home. She learns, with the help from some friends and new acquaintances, how to make money off “Sherlock Holmes” and his power of observation to make a living for herself. In the midst of her fall from grace, she also helps Scotland Yard uncover a string of high profile deaths that are really connected murders.
What I really liked about this book was how it was traditional in its setting and speech but also progressive in the casting of women for most of the major roles. I also like the combination of mystery with a little bit of scandal (don’t worry…it’s the 1800s, so it’s tame).
Although it’s a little slow to start, I believe it sets up the series nicely and slowly reveals new characters as the story progresses. My one other problem was that in the last minute it threw in pedophilia, which was a little bit of a shock. The book talks about a multitude of sins, mainly infidelity (hence the “Scarlet Women”), and how those sins affect the character’s lives; however, pedophilia takes it a little out of my pleasure reading comfort zone.
All in all, it’s an enjoyable read with a good lesson we can all stand to remember: “Remind yourself that you’re far more likely to undercharge than overcharge, my dear, because you don’t yet understand your own value and you’ve never been taught to demand your full worth.”
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