I listened to A Study in Charlotte mostly while driving around western Massachusetts while supporting Davan in the hospital last week, at least on the parts of the driving where I didn't have passengers while shuttling them back and forth to visit her. I liked it pretty well.
A Study in Charlotte is a twist on Sherlock Holmes. Charlotte is a Holmes, a descendant of Sherlock. We, however, see the story through the eyes of Watson, a descendant of, you guessed it, Watson. Both are teens at boarding school in the US but haven't actually met prior to Watson receiving an unwanted rugby scholarship to said school, although they are very aware of each other. Watson has romanticized Charlotte his whole life, envisioning the two of them solving mysteries in the style of their ancestors. So, meeting her is the one plus to his otherwise unpleasant, to say the least, new situation. Charlotte is, at first, not so excited about getting to know Watson. Charlotte is, in fact, like a traditional Holmes in the sense that she is brilliant, tortured, self centered and, additionally, has a drug problem. When a student they both have reason to hate is murdered, off they go.
I liked our James Watson. I found Charlotte to be intriguing. I was rather bothered by the whole drug use thing. She has gotten help for it before, but it continues to be a problem that isn't dealt with very well. I mean, these two are just teens and there isn't really anyone to step in and really help Charlotte, so it's probably kind of realistic in that sense. The plot line was okay. The mystery was interesting enough for me. There were times that I was annoyed with Watson, where something he was torturing himself over seemed to go on too long, but mostly I was with him in his narration.
I did like the book. It's not a favorite, but it was a pretty decent read and mostly kept my attention even while I had lots and lots of other stuff going clamoring for attention in my brain.
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