#Lady Sherlock

[nzbookwyrm]

June 2024

[evapillar]

Grading Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series on these:

1. ✅ Miss Charlotte Holmes dresses in garishly feminine gowns (except when she’s in disguise)

2. ✅ Holmes has what the reader will recognize as high-functioning autism, and doesn’t naturally express her emotions in a traditional way, but she is fundamentally deeply compassionate, especially towards people neglected by society. (This includes her elder sister Bernadine who “can’t look after herself” i.e. has nonverbal autism. Ensuring Bernadine is safe and thriving is consistently Charlotte’s top priority throughout the series, which makes for some cool subplots I haven’t seen elsewhere.)

3. ✅ Mrs. John Watson is essentially Holmes’s found-family mother and has her own set of impressive knowledge and skills from her time as an actress and courtesan that complement Holmes

4. ✅ Irene Alder is not in this series because the entire story is about women society considers less than respectable carving out lives for themselves

5. ❌ …okay, yeah, Moriarty is just absolutely everywhere

6. ✅ Holmes works with the police and has a friend on the force, but also lots of her cases are for people who the police would ignore. She also routinely lies to keep people out of jail. It’s actually a really nuanced portrayal

7. ✅ idk what to say, this just doesn’t happen

Behold the seven deadly sins of Sherlock Holmes adaptations:

Having Holmes constantly wear the notorious deerstalker cap

Making Holmes into a sociopathic big-brain asshole

Portraying Watson as a bumbling idiot

Holmes and Irene having a romance thing going on for some reason. It's either that or making her evil

The villain always being Moriarty

Copaganda

"Elementary, my dear Watson"

Lemme know if I missed anything!

[this-is-lit]

A Ruse of Shadows

by Sherry Thomas

Charlotte has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty’s iron grip. Disruption, however, comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Bancroft Ashburton, disgraced and imprisoned as a result of Charlotte’s prior investigations, nevertheless manages to press Charlotte into service: Underwood, his most loyal henchman, is missing and Lord Bancroft wants Charlotte to find Underwood, dead or alive. But then Lord Bancroft himself turns up dead and Charlotte, more than anyone else, meets the trifecta criteria of motive, means, and opportunity. Never mind rescuing anyone else, with the law breathing down her neck, can Charlotte save herself from prosecution for murder?

“A Ruse of Shadows” by Sherry Thomas is the 8th book in her Lady Sherlock series, and it follows Charlotte Holmes as she and her companions—Mrs. Watson, Lord Ingram, & Inspector Treadles—attempt to find Mr. Underwood under the threat of blackmail by Lord Bancroft Ashburton.

Charlotte Holmes is back at it again in this installment of Thomas’ detective novels. The characters by this point are comfortable and familiar, with an emotional growth shown by Charlotte that is the payoff from books 1-7. The case tracks the disappearance of one of Ashburton’s underlings, which surprisingly ties into one of Charlotte’s earlier cases and leads to an accusation of murder against herself, and the reader will delight in seeing how Charlotte’s analytical mind and calm under pressure serve to extract her from a tangled web once again. As usual, the reader will become invested in the twists and turns of the case while also rooting for the happiness of the supporting characters.

“A Ruse of Shadows” is a satisfying and enjoyable read that doesn’t veer much from the equation of the previous books, but readers who have made it this far may start to wonder if the overarching conflict with Moriarty begins to grow thin and repetitive.

[aeterna-auroral-avenger]

I gotta say, I think Lady Sherlock 7 is my new favourite of the series. I looooved the setting especially. Ship settings are so fun and my bread and butter. It makes for some good reveals. Can’t hide forever sort of thing.

Something else I really liked was how Charlotte is now freely calling Ingram her lover. It’s just nice now that they got their shit together in that regard. And it seemed like at the end that Ingram wants more smutty writing 😂

You probably would’ve got a good laugh at my reactions to Mother Holmes being on board. The amount of times I groaned and rolled my eyes. And when she said she was Livia’s mother, I was immediately: “You’re not her mother, Watson is.” However, there was one good thing about her being on the ship. She got taken to the woodshed a few times and that was fantastic LOL. So satisfying.

Near the end when Livia was getting stared at, I was legitimately scared for her. I was like: “Can you stop looking at her please? You’re giving me anxiety 😭” Seriously, my heart was beating so fast. I was worried about Livia. I probably shouldn’t have been but I couldn’t help it. Just stop staring at her lol. Oh and the way Charlotte totally kicked ass with her cane! I said: “Charlotte, you badass! Mama Watson taught you well 👏” Livia rehashing it later was cute too.

The end with Mother Holmes was probably one of my favourite scenes. Oh my lord, Liviaaa. I’m so proud of her for standing up to Mother Holmes! “You go girl, tell her off 👏👏👏” That was sooo satisfying. I was honestly smiling the whole time. I love it so much.

Also, here’s a treat for you…

Mom: Have you finished any books recently? Me: Yeah, I just finished A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas. It’s part of the Lady Sherlock series and…it’s kinda what it sounds like? Mom: *asks for more details* Me: Uuhh…*struggles to explain the setup and how there’s technically no ‘real’ Sherlock Holmes and no one knows except Watson, her sister, and her newfound lover and…her parents are trash so Watson is also like a mother to Charlotte and…*the struggle continues** So…yeah. (Help me lord!)

So, that happened LOL. I absolutely suck at explaining books to my parents but I do my best. My mom got the gist of it though but still, I’m the worst at explaining. It’s kinda fun to look back on those moments though. Anyway, I wanted to share that because I thought it was funny and you might get a laugh outta it 😂

-Book Anon

LOOOOOOOOOL! 😂😂 I can only imagine how that all went down. That's hilarious! I love it.

Also YES! I love this book so much. Like once I got to this moment, I was like ohhhhh yes, this feels great. This was such a great one wasn't it? And all your thoughts on this one are so valid! I love Charlotte kicking ass with her cane.

And all of that with Liv! YES!

“You’re not her mother, Watson is.” YES VALID YES MAMA WATSON IS THE BEST!

[bargainsleuthbooks]

A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock #2) by Sherry Thomas #BookReview

I love a twist on a traditional Sherlock Holmes story, so the Lady Sherlock series piqued my interest. Would the series retain the spirit of the original stories? #LadySherlock #CharlotteHolmes #SherryThomas #sherlockholmes #bookreview #audiobook

Being shunned by Society gives Charlotte Holmes the time and freedom to put her extraordinary powers of deduction to good use. As “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” aided by the capable Mrs. Watson, she’s had great success helping with all manner of inquiries, but she’s not prepared for the new client who arrives at her Upper Baker Street office. Lady Ingram, wife of Charlotte’s dear…

[sesamestreep]

I really feel like one of the best details in “A Scandal in Bohemia” that I never see people fixate on enough is that the story starts with Watson stopping in to see Holmes at Baker Street on a complete whim, because he happens to see that he’s home (and Watson is now married and living elsewhere). Like he doesn’t send word first, he’s not invited, he just shows up and surprises Holmes. Which is not that weird but then Holmes is like “oh good, I’ve got a case anyway, you might as well hang out!” which just makes it funnier when the King shows up and is like “I’d really rather speak to you alone, actually” and Watson tries to leave and Holmes is just like “anything you can say to me, you can say to my best friend John Watson, and if you ask him to leave, I would consider it a grave insult, you would be my enemy and I will not help you ever!!” And the king is like “…ok” and just moves on.

like, that is crazy behavior. Holmes is talking about how there’s probably lots of money in this case, and then almost turns away the client for…not knowing who the fuck Watson is?? He’s not even supposed to be there?? He just came to say hi?? “It is both or none”… girl, GET UP.

[sygneth]

just a bunch of doodles from the past weeks

figuring out how to draw them again

[vancruejovi]

Jeremy Brett 🌹

[kajaono]

Has anyone read it? Is it good?

"Remind yourself that you're far more likely to undercharge than overcharge, my dear, because you don't yet understand your value, and you've never been taught to demand your full worth." ~Sherry Thomas, A Study in Scarlet Women.

[nandors-girlwife]

I squeaked and giggled and twirled my hair so now you will too!!! Here are some young Jeremy Brett pics that make me have feelings

Oh my god?????

[granadahvlmes]

Jeremy with his first five leading ladies on the occasion of the London press preview of "The Adventures" in 1984.

Gayle Hunnicutt (A Scandal in Bohemia)

Barbara Wilshere (The Solitary Cyclist)

Rosalyn Landor (The Speckled Band)

Alison Skilbeck (The Naval Treaty)

Betsy Brantley (The Dancing Men)

[lilies4prince]

playing chess is an inherently gay trait... like why are you making moves on another man?

[holmosexualitea]

The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

[rachandruin]

Every now and then

I'll remember young Jeremy Brett in My Fair Lady and need a bit of a lie down

[aeterna-auroral-avenger]

Oh my lord. You didn’t tell me I Was Anastasia would be so depressing. I shed some tears when the family was getting murdered. That was rough. A lot of it was tbh, especially the train scene. That was nasty. But I guess it makes sense considering Anastsia’s story. I think a lot of people know it. I will say I didn’t know about Anna Anderson and her side of things. In my defense, I’m not a huge Anastasia buff to begin with. I’m just familiar with the very basics of her story.

The only problem I really had was how the book was structured and how it flip flopped between timelines. I don’t mind duel timelines but the way this one was laid out was a bit confusing, even after reading the author’s note. Maybe because I read it through audio and so I couldn’t go and recheck what exact date we were in.

I’m not gonna lie, because of how it flip flopped and with the title, I kinda thought Anna was like a ‘reincarnated’ Anastasia and she was telling her past life to the readers, and the reveal at the end would be something like “I was Anastasia but now I’m Anna in this new life” instead of “I tricked you into thinking I was Anastasia”. If that makes sense lol. Had I known Anna was an actual person in history, I would’ve gone into the book knowing that there was a scam-like situation going on. Maybe if I read the synopsis but I didn’t. I almost never do anymore tbh.

I still really liked it though and I’m glad I took your suggestion to read it. I also feel like I had a history lesson with this one. And that’s not a complaint on my part. I like learning about history. I got in line for the other book you mentioned too and I’m excited about it.

On a different note (sort of) as soon as I returned I Was Anastasia, Lady Sherlock 7 was available for me to rent! That helped lift my melancholy mood and I snagged it right away. That timing could not have been more perfect. I love it when stuff like that happens. It’s like fate lol.

My library also got 2 more copies of the 8th Lady Sherlock audiobook, which means I only have to wait 2 weeks now instead of 10! It’s about time my library realized that people are enjoying these books and need more than 1 copy. I’m excited, talk about luck.

-Book Anon

If I'm being honest here, Book Anon, my only knowledge of Anastasia's story came from the cartoon movie LOL 😅 so I had like no idea about anything I was about to get into. I knew the myth, not the history. And I had no idea whatsoever about Anna Anderson either, so that threw me for a really big loop.

The whole thing was so wild to me, and honestly, I got choked up at the end too. My tears were a combination of shock, anger, and sadness. I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me, ya know? But still, the whole story was so very good. I enjoyed every bit of it.

I'm sure listening to it got confusing with the different dates. Now that you mention it, I remember flipping back and forth to check dates, and I remember at one point when I did, I was like *that doesn't add up*. That should have been my first clue I suppose. Still! I enjoyed it, and I'm glad you did too.

Hooray about the Lady Sherlock books too! That's very exciting! I like how things like that line up too; it's so satisfying. I'm excited for you!

[kimgmac63]