The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

In this book we are introduced to the descendants of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson – Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson. The story parallels the original Holmes stories in the sense of it being told from Watson’s point of view. Jamie has left London to attend boarding school in Sherringford, Connecticut and it just so happens that Charlotte Holmes is a student at the same school. Of course, they cross paths briefly… just before the school is rocked with a campus murder, which they’re being framed for. So now the pair has to team up in order to solve it and clear their names.

First of all, I love Jamie so much! He is just all-around lovable and that’s pretty much the only way I can describe him. He’s smart, though probably not up to Charlotte’s eccentric standards, but he’s a quick learner and finds that sometimes being kept in the dark works better to pull out the truth in others. Meanwhile Charlotte is a complete enigma, like her ancestor, and you slowly figure out a part of her through her recent history… which helps to make sense of why she acts the way she does (but not completely). What I enjoy most about Charlotte is how quickly she’s able to connect the dots to figure out the bigger picture and get into other people’s heads without them even realizing she’s doing so.

The friendship with this newly formed, yet classic duo is a bit rocky, as Jamie doesn’t always know what Charlotte’s motives are or if he can really even trust her. Though it often works out that he doesn’t know everything that’s going on… as Charlotte says, it makes his reactions more genuine. Still, I sympathize with him about being out-of-the-loop because that’s never fun.

Overall though I loved this book. I’ve never read any of the Sherlock books before – I’ve only ever watched the different shows and movies that gave me an initial knowledge of the characters. However, now I do wish to read the tales, especially because a few are mentioned in this particular book and it will be interesting to read the original stories of Holmes and Watson compared to this modern take on their descendants.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars