This is going to be a somewhat brief review. I have a longer and more in-depth review scheduled for elsewhere later in the week, and Carrie is working on reading this book as well. But A Study in Scarlet Women releases today and I couldn’t let the release go by without telling you HOW MUCH I ENJOYED IT OH MY GOSH.
You might have heard my podcast interview with Sherry Thomas last week wherein she talked a bit about the inspiration for this book. I thought it sounded interesting then; I knew Carrie, for example, would eat it up with two spoons and a spork. I figured I’d step aside since she’d likely want to review it. Then I read the first two chapters and… well, I didn’t get much done at all this past weekend.
So out of respect for the other pending reviews, here is the TL;DR: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you’re a reader who likes historical fiction, mysteries, puzzle-filled stories, and accounts of how individuals access and defend their autonomy against and amid terrible disadvantage, you’ll like this. If you’re a librarian, by all means, if possible, order some copies. This should make the mystery readers very happy. If you’re thinking, “Maybe I’ll like this” because “gender bending Sherlock Holmes” makes the curiosity prairie dogs in your brain poke their heads out of the ground en masse, you very likely will lose as many hours as I did.
Re-casting Sherlock Holmes as Charlotte Holmes allows for the challenges and perils facing women at that time to increase the tension on top of the murdery-investigation-y parts. Every vulnerability faced by one of the women in the story made me think of current parallels, and how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Questions of status, class, wealth, conduct, and sexual agency affect Charlotte, her sisters, and the women surrounding them. And then there’s the investigation part because at its heart, this is a mystery, and there’s a criminal puzzle to solve.
Here are some of my favorite highlighted portions from the text – and there are many.
If there was any spying to be done in the midst of a reputation-melting scandal, it ought to be left to a member of the family.
Well, obviously.
“By your standards it isn’t rational, I know. But you can’t expect to be treated rationally when you are a woman, Charlotte. I can’t explain why – that’s just how it is. And you must learn to accept it.”
Charlotte was quiet. Livia thought that perhaps for once, she’d put some sense into her little sister’s head. But as they walked back into the house, Charlotte turned to her and said, “I will try to understand why. But I will not learn to accept it. Never.”
Charlotte is similar to the original Sherlock in that she is scary levels of brilliant, extremely observant, and often baffled by social expectations that are empty of purpose or use. Because she is female, however, those expectations chafe much more acutely, and force her to change, adapt, or fight back against them.
Miss Holmes smiled. She had dimples.
Of course she did – the Good Lord went to ridiculous lengths to make sure that one of the finest minds in existence was housed in a body least likely to be suspected of it.
And one more, because it is delicious (pun intended):
“I can’t live the way you want me to, all bottled up and pretending that everything is all right.”
“It’s how the rest of us live. Why can’t you?”
A note about the romance: Sherry Thomas stated in the podcast interview that there isn’t a romance in this book, but a larger thread of romance will build through the series in what she calls a “long arc romance.” The elements that are present in this novel I found somewhat searing in their intensity, especially when I understood all of them once I had finished the book. There’s a lot of unresolved, suppressed potency to develop here, so if you’ve liked series that build a romance slowly over several books, this should suit you very well.
My quibbles with the book are minimal. At times the names became mixed up in my head, and I’m not sure if that’s the fault of my brain, or the fault of their being somewhat similar, but there were a few times where I had to page backwards to find out who a character was, and what they were doing in that scene. And while the pace is mostly sustained through the twists of the story, in moments when Charlotte is entirely out of her depth and being outwitted by life in general, the convenience with which certain characters sweep in to fix things was disappointing, and eroded her character a little. That said, the ways in which she is almost restored, or her life is at least somewhat rebalanced, makes up for it.
As usual, reading Sherry Thomas re-introduces me to my own first language, and in this case, re-introduced me to a character in a way I found incredible. I haven’t shut up about this book since I finished it. My outbound text messages are mostly hollering, squeeing, and long strings of vowels about this book.
I’m so excited this book exists. I’m so excited that I got to read it. I’m so excited there will be more.
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well.
Thanks!
Oh this sounds good. I loved the podcast you did with this author and I can’t wait to read this.
I just bought it. Everything about this book sounds like catnip to me!
I’ve had a case of grabby hands since I saw the first promo for this. Fortunately I left the Kindle at home, otherwise there would have been an egregiously over long lunch break today.
This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year – maybe because I am totally obsessed with the BBC’s SHERLOCK series, and now I want to devour everything Sherlock related. Especially if Sherlock is a girl!
I just saw a play in Chicago, “Miss Holmes” that recast both Holmes and Watson as women and focused on women coming to them with problems men wouldn’t take seriously. It was very good, indeed. Good to see this book is as well.
I’m so excited for this, I love Sherry Thomas.
A minor question though: she’s not going to end up with the dopey married guy right? (The one whose wife straight up says he’s in love with her in the preview excerpt.) Sherry Thomas usually doesn’t do me wrong, but I was a little uncomfortable w/ how in the Hidden Blade the hero’s fiance made a sudden heel turn that was kinda depicted as justifying him cheating on her so the unflatteringly depicted anger of the wife was a bit of a red flag for me. Not that it would ruin my enjoyment, but I just want to be forewarned so I can adjust my expectations.
@Linda: I don’t know who she’s going to end up with, but there is a lot of history between those characters that’s revealed through the book. Email me if you want more details?
TAKE MY MONEY!
If it were for that cover alone, take my money, but this story! SQUEE
I love Sherry Thomas but didn’t know if I’d like this one (though of course I was going to buy and read it because I love her so). Thanks for the review, will buy for the train ride tonight.
This novel gets a solid C+. Such a disappointment. I need to go back and read “The Beekeeper’s Apprentice” again, to pinpoint why Thomas fails so badly where King succeeds so brilliantly. The Charlotte Holmes character just is not very interesting. There was no emotional connection for me, no understanding of how she came to choose the silly old chestnut of losing virginity to keep marriage away. The deduction party trick has to be used in moderation to make it effective, but that party trick was the main element of Charlotte’s character. The Solving of the Mystery Deaths went on forever, uninterestingly. Inspector Treadles was almost a character in his own right, if you want to read an alternative Holmes novel just to be presented with a sort of interesting alternative Lestrade.
The various Lords were confusing, with such a plethora of names and nicknames that near the end I just gave up, kept skimming, and finally got through the novel. It was a joyless, tedious read, full of WTF moments (“My brother is too sick for a consultation, but he will listen through the wall and I will run between to carry his comments to you, and that will seem perfectly normal and believable to you!”) and character-bendy foreshadowing (a female Watson to chronicle Holmes stories? a Moriarty? an Upper Management Lord Mycroft?)
From the title “A Study in Scarlet Women” you might deduce that an important theme of the novel concerns the lot of women who have, through their own choices, or through coercion or victimization, been given that “special” status from society. While the results of infringing social expectations for sexual conduct are listed during the novel (loss of virginity outside marriage, serially unfaithful spouses, sexual abuse) this checklist is used for convenient, unoriginal (and in ASSW — uninteresting) plot drivers.
ASSW isn’t the worst alternative Holmes novel I’ve read. If you want a “darling” eating machine who knows just how many chins she can have before her looks are impacted, with mad deductive skills, and shallow and facile explanations/explorations of a female Holmes character whose voyage of personal empowerment is more due to the crew than the captain of that ship . . . you can currently pay $9.99 for the Kindle novel, or wait until it comes to a library near you.
@KSwan: It is always fascinating to me when two people react to scenes so differently. For example, the “my bro is in the next room BRB” scenes worked for me because it rested on the idea that people were going to see what they expected or wanted to see, and surely Charlotte isn’t the brilliant mind — that’s not possible. I liked that she calculated how much she could eat and enjoy (and wow, did she enjoy eating, bless her and her plum cake obsession) before her appearance became altered enough that it caused too much commentary. I also liked that the murder investigation played with the idea of assuming who is the victim and who is guilty, especially where gender and sexuality are concerned – I’m still thinking about that part.
I am sorry it didn’t work for you, though. That is unquestionably a bummer.
Woo! I’m so excited to read this! 🙂
I decided to get the audible version of this book and so far it is EXCELLENT! Kate Reading narrates it and she’s so good!
I loved it. It totally reminded me of the old Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle but littered with the constraints of what it means to be a woman during that time period. I just didn’t like the fact that Lord Ingram was married. Hoping the wife gets killed off in the next book or she finds someone else to love later on. Though their tension is really hot.
Great podcast with Sherry Thomas, and I can’t wait to read this one! For Sherlock fans, I’d also recommend a terrific YA Sherlock retelling- A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE by Brittany Cavallaro, which features a teen female detective- Charlotte Holmes, who is a descendant of Sherlock’s. It’s the first in a series and I can’t wait to read the rest. Brilliant characterization and great storytelling!
I have read the entire series. I thoroughly enjoyed every book. Charlotte is indeed an amazing character.