“I was maybe the only person to ever have his imaginary friend made real.”

3.5 stars

English teenage boy James “Jamie” (although he really would prefer it if you didn’t call him that, even if NO ONE seems to listen to him) Watson has been given a scholarship to a preppy boarding school in Connecticut, not far away from where his father lives with his new family. He’s rather excited about the chance to meet another of the students there, though, the already famous Charlotte Holmes. James and Charlotte’s great-great-great-grandfathers were one of the most famous pairings in history, after all, and even though their families don’t exactly keep in touch much after all these years, James has always imagined what adventures he might have with Charlotte if he ever got a chance to meet her.

What he had not imagined was becoming a number one murder suspect right along with her, however. When a fellow student turns up dead in his dorm room, about two weeks after James beat said student up for saying some really unpleasant things about Charlotte, in a murder clearly inspired by some of Watson’s great-great-great-grandfather’s stories, being the new kid in school becomes about a million times worse than it normally is. While the prickly, troubled and volatile Charlotte previously showed no interest in making friends, she now enlists James in her quest to clear their names. The murderer has a powerful grudge against Charlotte Holmes, it seems, and appears quite happy to continue trying to ruin her life, and James Watson’s along with her, if he keeps insisting that he wants to be her friend.

This book appeared on a lot of “Best of 2016 YA lists” and is one in a long line of current adaptations where authors/screen writers are reimagining the stories of Sherlock Holmes in new ways or taking inspiration from them to do their own thing. Off the top of my head, in addition to the Guy Richie Sherlock Holmes movies, the BBC Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, there is also Colleen Gleason’s Steampunk YA series, Stoker and Holmes, Ellie Marney’s Every series (which I just finished) and Sherry Thomas’ gender-bent historicals, Lady Sherlock. So it isn’t like Britanny Cavallaro is doing something entirely new or wholly original, but rather taking advantage of an already popular trend.

Full review here.