When I first picked up and got excited about this book, somehow I got it into my head that Jamie and Charlotte were lesbians. And so, it took me an entire CD to figure out that Jamie is not, in fact, a young woman at a very gender progressive school, or a trans woman, or genderfluid, nonbinary, or any other LGBTQ. He's a cis boy and I was facepalming myself in the car.

So while the cover is gorgeous, the world inventive, the allusions to canon loving, the mystery a real twister, and the characters funny, solid, and good in their own right, I'm kind of disappointed because...nothing super diverse or spectacular happens here. There are other adaptations where Holmes and Watson are young and/or cis-swapped, both in books and in television (Mary Russell & Elementary, anyone?).

Don't get me wrong: A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE is certainly a good read for any Sherlockian. If you need a Sherlock Holmes and John Watson fix outside of canon, have at it. My bi ego is simply bruised because I thought queer rep was going to be here, or at least man-and-woman friendship. But nope. Surprising no one (at least certainly not me), Holmes' gender is used to its fullest extent, with the bad things that disproportionately happen to women happening to her, and romance blossoming between her & Jamie, as they're both safely straight. I'm a little put out.

Where does that leave me and continuing the series? Well, while the writing is strong enough that I'm interested, I'm not going to be first in line to read the sequel. Wait until I'm in the mood for a run-of-the-mill-but-well-written-mystery.