A Study in Charlotte

In the century after Arthur Conan Doyle first wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, multiple authors have penned variations on the exploits of the “Great Detective.” Many of these have featured female protagonists. The Lady Sherlock series posits the notion that Holmes is the fabrication of a female sleuth who must use a male persona to solve crimes. Other writers have tackled secondary characters and given them adventures of their own. Irene Adler, Mrs. Hudson, and Mary Russell are all independent sleuths who solve mysteries in the Sherlockian manner. Even Sherlock’s younger sister and mother are featured in the Enola Holmes series.

Aside from focusing on peripheral characters, some authors have covered Holmes’s teen years. A recent film adaptation depicts both Watson and Holmes meeting as youngsters. In Brittany Cavallarro’s Charlotte Holmes Mysteries series, not only does she cover the teen years of her amateur sleuths, but she changes the central character’s gender, thereby allowing a romance to develop between Holmes and Watson. Another unique feature of her series is its startling premise that Homes and Watson were real people and that Conan Doyle was simply Watson’s literary agent. Consequently, the descendants of the detective and his biographer carry on the family tradition from generation to generation.

These ideas are first presented in A Study in Charlotte, detailing the adventures of Sherlock’s 16-year-old descendant. Her faithful Watson is a 16-year-old boy named James. In all other respects, their activities parallel those of their famous forebears as they work together and risk their lives to see justice done. The series consists of four books in total. Because it’s character-driven, the subsequent titles continue to explore the evolving personal relationship between Charlotte and James.

The Last of August picks up immediately where A Study in Charlotte leaves off. The amateur sleuths, having solved their first mystery together at Sherringford Academy, take a well-deserved winter holiday back home in England. However, Uncle Leander Holmes has disappeared while working on a case to crack a German art forgery ring. Additionally, the novel revisits the question of the missing August Moriarty. His actual death in this volume intensifies the Moriarty clan’s enmity toward Charlotte.

The Case for Jamie tests the complicated dynamic between the two sleuths as Charlotte’s reckless actions once again disrupt their connection, possibly forever. James has returned to Sherringford and tries to resume a normal life, while Charlotte flees her past mistakes and Lucien’s thirst for revenge. The two sleuths are forced to reunite before becoming the targets of yet another villain with a grudge against them both.

A Question of Holmes is the last book in the series (as of 2023) with Charlotte and James back together and planning to attend Oxford University. They’re still attempting to sort out their personal relationship when a series of accidents befalls the theater department and a young woman goes missing before a performance. Charlotte and James enroll in the theater program to investigate, and mishaps resume the moment they do. While solving the riddle of this threat to their classmates, they finally solve the riddle of what they mean to one another.