Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson finally have a chance to start over. With all the freedom their pre-college summer program provides and no one on their tail, the only mystery they need to solve, once and for all, is what they are to each other.  

But upon their arrival at Oxford, Charlotte is immediately drawn into a new case: a series of accidents befell the theater program at Oxford last year, culminating in a young woman going missing on the night of a major performance.

The mystery has gone unsolved; the case is cold. And no one—least of all the girl’s peculiar, close-knit group of friends—is talking.

When Watson and Holmes join the theater program, the “accidents” start anew, giving them no choice but to throw themselves into the case. But as the complicated lines of friendship, love, and loyalty blur, time is running out—and tragedy waits in the wings.

I have to say I expected a bit more from the final book of this amazing series. It could be I was just not as into it after an emotional first week of the month, but I can’t help but feel it was the story itself that was lacking something. Maybe it’s because the book wasn’t quite as dark as the first three… not super dark, mind you, but for the first time Charlotte and Jamie weren’t in mortal danger and I guess those two just have a pattern.

Still, the mystery of the summer drama program at Oxford was intriguing. Why did that one girl disappear and who was behind it? Why are they being attacked again? It was definitely a mystery that pulled me in and I was curious to find out the answers, and as always they came in a way I hadn’t expected. I think how Charlotte pulls it out is fantastic, actually.

There are still some little twists that come out from the previous books that actually made me happy, though nothing really came from them… other than a little redemption for Milo.

Now that I’m writing this review, I realize the element that was missing was Jamie. There’s just not enough of him in this book for my liking. Though I kind of like the story being told by Charlotte, I still missed Jamie’s voice and perspective on everything. But having less Jamie in this book made me enjoy it less than the other novels because he was the reason I fell in love with this series – something about his voice really brought the story to life.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book or conclusion to the series. It just wasn’t as good as I was expecting based on the previous novels. It’s still a series that I highly recommend for fans of Sherlock Holmes and young-adult mystery!

Rating: 3/5 stars