By Laura LaVelle, Wonder Shuffle Culture Editor:

A friend of mine calls the Lady Sherlock series a guilty pleasure--and I disagree. A pleasure it absolutely is, but why on earth should anyone feel guilty about enjoying this clever. amusing, creative, and extremely original take on Sherlock Holmes?

A Study in Scarlet Women tells the story of Charlotte Holmes, a brilliant, unconventional woman who challenges society's expectations and solves mysteries. Considered disgraced by her parents and proper society, she operates under the assumed name of Sherlock Holmes, with some help from her friends. One such friend is Joanna Watson, a wealthy widow and former actress, a bit scandalous herself. (Her husband, John Watson, was an army doctor killed in Afghanistan.) Charlotte is also emotionally entangled with an old childhood friend, Lord Ingram Ashburton--who is a friend of a Metropolitan Police inspector, Treadles.

Without divulging too much of the mystery, suffice to say that Charlotte solves a serious crime, keeps her identity under wraps (except to a select few), manages to obtain her financial independence, and saves her undeserving parents and her adored sister from a potential false accusation and further scandal. That sister (Livia) is my favorite character--Charlotte suggests toward the end of the book that she should write fictionalized versions of her cases, attributing all of the deductive reasoning and mastery of disguise to the genius of Sherlock Holmes.

After reading this book, I rushed to read the sequels for the further adventures of these characters--in love, in crime-solving, in code-breaking, in creative writing. There are seven others to date, the most recent one having been published in 2023. Ms. Thomas is reportedly working on book nine. They're really great fun--so if you are looking for some escapism with social commentary, romance, and adventure, you may very well enjoy them.

NOVEL: A Study in Scarlet Women

AUTHOR: Sherry Thomas

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2016

IMAGE: book cover, Berkley

About Me

Laura LaVelle is Wonder Shuffle's Culture Editor. A fan of the great indoors, you can find her in her native NYC, her home in Connecticut, or at a concert, play, library, bookstore, or museum just about anywhere in the world.