The game’s a foot!

First I have to say that I am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. I’m not like, a Baker Street Irregular, but I read the Conan Doyle stories, and I like to read re-imaginings and watch TV/movie adaptations and all that. So I went into this YA version looking to enjoy it. And I did!
This modernized story posits that Sherlock Holmes and Dr James Watson were real people and that Arthur Conan Doyle was Watson’s literary agent. This is the story of their teenaged descendants, Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes, who are English students meeting for the first time at their boarding school in Connecticut. Their families have become estranged over the generations, so while they have heard of one another this is the first time they’ve had contact.
The book is narrated by Watson, which is a call back that I enjoyed. Watson is fascinated and a little overly-impressed by Holmes. Watson needs to be mesmerized by Holmes’ genius for the dynamic to work, I think. Holmes is a person that is difficult to love, so Watson needs to be both very lovable and very loving. In the tradition of Holmeses, Charlotte is rigidly logical and emotionally unavailable so Watson’s emotional freeness and enthusiasm makes a nice counterpoint.
The fact that the Holmes is a teenaged girl adds some new twists, but since I always thought that Original Recipe Watson was pretty much in love with Holmes anyway… I will say that I liked how romance was hinted at but so was the recognition that it was probably not the best way for their relationship to work. I think its reasonable to have it in there; Watson is our narrator and he’s a teenager, so hormones a-raging. But I’d like to see a portrayal of boy-girl friendship that doesn’t lead inevitably to Romance.
Of course there’s a mystery. A boy that they both hate is murdered and Watson and then Holmes are suspected. They have a variety of adventures as they get to know one another and their friendship grows. All the usual and I think important elements of a Holmes homage are present: drug addiction; tense family relationships; Holmes being a jerk, Watson being a bit dense; forensic clues; police incompetence; final reveal of Holmes’ brilliance.
I really enjoyed this YA version of Holmes and Watson. They were good representations of the characters while also being very modern and the book dealt with modern teen issues like sexual assault and substance abuse pretty well. I’m looking forward to more in this series.