A Study In Scarlet Women

by Sherry Thomas

Berkley Publishing Group

Pub Date 18 Oct 2016

Review

Paying homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective is very much in vogue.  From new adventures featuring the classic Holmes to comic reworkings and even fantasy tinged reimaginings such as Alt.sherlock.holmes, bookshelves are inundated with a plethora of tributes.      Sherry Thomas's A Study in Scarlet Women stands out, both for its eloquent storytelling and for its innovation.  Charlotte Holmes is not simply Sherlock Holmes in female guise, she is her own woman, struggling against the constraints faced by women of her time.  

A simple warning - don't spend your time looking for straightforward correlations.  Take the time to experience the story and the characters as you would with any other novel.  If you let the story unfold naturally, you will enjoy it far more.  Sherry Thomas develops her characters rather than relying on reader knowledge and expectations. In fact, challenging expectations is a theme woven throughout this fascinating novel.

Sherry Thomas's vision of Sherlock Holmes is at once familiar and refreshingly innovative.  A Study in Scarlet Women is an introduction, laying the foundation for future novels featuring Charlotte Holmes.  It explains how while working on an intriguingly complex case, Charlotte or rather "Sherlock" becomes established as a consulting detective.  

Whether you are a lover of Holmesian fiction or a mystery aficionado in search of a good read, A Study in Scarlet Women is an excellent choice.

5/5

I received a copy of A Study in Scarlet Women from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

Description

USA Today bestselling author Sherry Thomas turns the story of the renowned Sherlock Holmes upside down…

With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society.  But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London. 

When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She'll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her. But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society's expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.