Please note that this review spoils some events from prior books.

Well I try to complete series even when I dislike them since sometimes the author can pull things together. Cavallaro almost manages to redeem her characters in the fourth book in the Charlotte Holmes series, but for me, I found myself mostly bored about the case that Charlotte and her Watson were doing in this one. Cavallaro mostly focuses on Charlotte and Watson's relationship and we now have Charlotte's POV for the majority of the book. She doesn't sound like herself and after a while I just went along with it. The ending was meh to me though. I just don't really care about her having a romance. It was fine with Holmes not having one in the original stories and I don't know why Cavallaro could not have just had Charlotte be an "ace" considering she pretty much presents that way through the first two books.

In "A Question of Holmes" we have Charlotte and Jamie back in London. Jamie is preparing for school and Charlotte is figuring some things out. She's ready to try for a relationship with Jamie though she's still worried it won't work and she will drive him away. With a new case at end (finding out who is trying to stop a theater performance at Oxford and who was behind some mishaps the year before) Charlotte and Jamie are out there detecting. We get some new faces, but no one grabs me. 

I felt for Charlotte in this one. Her family is the worst and she's finally resetting herself with her uncle's help. She finds herself playacting with people and realizes she's tired of it. She is a crossroads and is worried about what happens if she chooses a different path from her Watson. The book could have been about that and it would have worked better. Instead Cavallaro undoes some events from "The Last of August" which made me roll my eyes. At least Cavallaro acknowledges how terrible Charlotte was with regards to how she ruined August's life just because he wasn't in love with her. I feel like if Charlotte had been Charlie and August had been Agatha the fandom in this series wouldn't have been as forgiving.

Watson is a lot more likable when you are not in his head every second. I loathed Jamie the last two books so this was a nice break. He appears again in the end and I wish that Cavallaro had kept it Charlotte's voice throughout.

We hear about Jamie's father and the mess that is his life. One wonders if the Watson's seek out the Holmes because they have shit else to do and need danger and excitement. We have Leander, Lena, Milo, and others.

The writing was just okay. The mystery was boring and I don't know what else to say besides that. Most of the book was just about Charlotte trying to be there for Jamie though she's still experiencing issues after being raped (see A Study in Charlotte). The flow was lackluster. I think because there is no urgency in the case that Charlotte is dealing with. There's a curve ball thrown in via Charlotte's aunt (no spoilers) but that ends up not being anything either. Just something I think that doesn't work in the end.

The setting of Oxford doesn't feel that present to me which is weird. I kept thinking about "Lyra's Oxford" and wished that I was reading that.  

The ending was a miss for me the whole way. I think the smartest thing for Cavallaro was to go one with these characters, but ah well. I thought the overall series was merely 2 stars though. The last two books were a mess IMHO and though this book was more coherent, it just didn't work. 

I should have skipped this, but I was hoping that maybe, just maybe Cavallaro could pivot this series. With talk of a fourth book coming out I wanted something interesting out there in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson. Instead this Young Adult pastiche in the world of Sherlock Holmes is lacking across the board. We somehow have no development of Charlotte and Jamie, there are no real deductions to be made, we still have Charlotte and Jamie in a toxic friendship and we get to see Jamie's father in his own messed up relationship with a Holmes. 

"The Case for Jamie" is the third book in the Charlotte Holmes series. Told in first person points of view by Jamie and Charlotte this time you have back and forth chapters with the not dynamic duo before they finally get to confront another Moriarty.  

Jamie is feeling lost and angry after the events of "The Last of August". He is rightfully over the Holmes family and a year later is settled back in school with a girlfriend. FYI, Jamie treats his girlfriend appallingly and at this point I am wondering if he is a undercover MRA or what. There is no there there this time. Jamie is asked to help find Charlotte by his uncle and father because reasons. I am thinking they are alluding to the fact that Jamie is in love or was in love with her or something. Instead of Jamie actually pushing back on this BS he does eventually get involved and becomes a suspect (again) when a series of pranks goes on.

Charlotte and her POV chapters were pretty freaking soulless. I hate her entire family. I know these people are mythical and all, but when Charlotte recounts being told her mother was disappointed that she was raped cause she thought Charlotte could handle herself better, her brother making excuses about how nothing is his fault, and her father is just an absent asshole. There is nothing interesting about the Holmes besides all of them seem to be devoid of feelings. Charlotte is focused on keeping Jamie safe (again) and tracking down another Moriarty. 

There is nothing to say about the secondary characters. They are not well developed at all. I didn't like Jamie's father and started to hate Charlotte's uncle. There seemed to be some repercussions for Jamie's father at the end of the book, and once again Jamie barely seems to care.

I honestly felt for August's family. He was a good person who had his life ruined because he romantically rejected Charlotte. Then her brother killed him. He is mentioned multiple times throughout this book, but I felt like no one really gave a damn he was dead and should not be. 

The writing was okay, the flow was slow. I think this book was hampered by having alternating chapters between Jamie and Charlotte. Charlotte just recaps things in her chapters that readers should already know about.

The ending was whatever. We have Jamie and Charlotte reunited again and I just don't care enough to read if there is a fourth book. 

Not good.

Trying not to laugh about the fact my Kindle just shit off due to low battery. Maybe it’s even tired of me reading bad books. This is not really bad per se, it’s just boring. The POV’s or Jamie and Charlotte, so each chapter alternates between them.

It’s been at least a year plus since the events in the last book and we do have Jamie back at school wanting nothing to do with the Holmes family and Charlotte on the tail of Lucien Moriarty.

This is a Young Adult story that reboots the Holmes and Watson story with the great great grandchildren of the original Holmes and Watson: Charlotte Holmes and James (don’t call me Jamie) Watson. They find themselves at the same Vermont boarding school. Watson is an American, raised in London for most of his life and Holmes is a Brit exiled to America for bad behaviour.

It’s a clever idea. The changes in age, gender, country and century prevent Charlotte from being Holmes in a dress and change the dynamic between Holmes and Watson in complex ways.

Although this is a light read, it’s not a soft one. We have drugs and rape and cold-blooded murder. Charlotte is a hard person to like. She’s bright and fierce but so aberrant in her behaviour that she comes off as somewhere between abused child and irredeemable narcissist. Watson is a little brighter than his predecessor but has a problem with anger and a habit of using violence as a problem-solving technique.

The plot reloves around murders that are clearly based on Holmes stories and for which Watson and Holmes are being framed. This provides solid links to the Holmes brand while requiring a modern reinterpretation.

The supporting characters, especially the grown-ups, are paper thin. The school set-up is improbable. The denouement is not entirely convincing.

It’s a fun romp, with flashes of originality, nuggets of insider humour and an unabashed exploitation of the Holmes brand.

I enjoyed myself but I don’t hear the rest of the series calling to me.

I started with the audiobook version but abandoned it in favour of the Kindle version after only half-an-hour. The book has two narrators, Graham Halstead for Jamie Watson and Julia Whelan for Charlotte Holmes. Graham Halstead opened and I never managed to get past his performance. Most of it is fine but his attempts at English accents are not distracting. Not Dick Van Dyke awful but not good enough to match the right accent to the right class.

Of all the wonderful narrators out there wouldn’t it have been possible to find Americans who do English accents as well as Paltrow or Anderson or perhaps take the radical step of using narrators who are actually English?