[Book Review] A Question of Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson think they’re finally in the clear. They’ve left Sherringford School—and the Moriartys—behind for a pre-college summer program at Oxford University. A chance to start from scratch and explore dating for the first time, while exploring a new city with all the freedom their program provides. But when they arrive, Charlotte is immediately drawn into a new case: a series of accidents have been befalling the members of the community theater troupe in Oxford, and now, on the eve of their production of Hamlet, they’re starting all over again. What once seemed like a comedy of errors is now a race to prevent the next tragedy—before Charlotte or Jamie is the next victim.

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A Study in Charlotte

The Last of August

The Case For Jamie

This is the fourth and final book in the series! If you want to know my thoughts about the three previous books I will link them right above. There won't be any big important plot themed spoilers for this book, but I may bring up stuff that happened in previous books, just a warning. 

So, this was flat out kind of a disappointment for me. I hate saying that, because of how absolutely excited I was to read the fourth book especially after how much I loved The Case For Jamie. But yeah, there are some aspects I enjoyed but as a whole I disliked a lot of this book, we will get into both of sides of course.

Like always, let's start with the characters. I love both Jamie and Charlotte with my whole heart. They are two of my favorite characters and I am incredibly sad to leave them. I miss them already. I really loved the evolution of Jamie and Charlotte's relationship. They were separated for the majority of the last book and so much happened that their relationship/friendship definitely was put on the back burner, which made sense. So seeing them be in a real relationship and have the relationship be fairly healthy is such a sweet thing to see. There are a handful of side characters in the theater group Jamie and Charlotte have to infiltrate and honestly I couldn't tell you their names. We barely got to know them and the whole "case" was so dull that the reader doesn't really care about them or their problems. 

The mystery as a whole was so boring, and anticlimactic. It was like the case didn't really matter. There was no real stakes, danger, suspense, or anything like that. I wouldn't have minded if the case was at least interesting. I understand that the case needed to be maybe less intense so the relationship between Jamie and Charlotte could grow in a healthy way. But it seemed pointless and it never really felt like the case was important. The plot in general was kind of all over the place. Something is revealed that honestly seemed not only out of nowhere but it didn't matter at all in the end. I don't want to get too spoiler-y but something is revealed that didn't benefit the story at all. It was revealed, the characters reacted, and it was never talked about again, despite being such a huge thing. I hated it so much. And also, it didn't seem like Jamie and Charlotte really cared after the initial shock of finding out. I just don't understand the reasoning for it. 

Another thing I was confused about is that almost every character from the previous books are just gone. In the third book, The Case for Jamie, Jamie is basically called out by his school friends for being an awful friend to them and they don't even show up at all in this book. Lena is mentioned once. Jamie's dad and mom are nowhere but mentioned. Despite there being a lot of negative emotions between Jamie and his parents. Leander does show up here and there especially in the beginning of the book. Shelby isn't in A Question For Holmes, we don't even know what really happened to her in the last story and what she's been through. That was completely brushed aside besides one or two quick mentions. A Question For Holmes feels so detached from the last three books.

The writing is fine. I do think that I prefer Jamie as a narrator versus Charlotte. I think it was best to go back and forth between them in the third book versus this one being Charlotte the majority of the time. I loved a lot of the moments between  Jamie and Charlotte. They have amazing chemistry both as a couple and as best friends. It's complicated and complex and the reader can really feel that. Although the dullness of the case really bums me out, I did like seeing them have the chance to act like a relatively "normal" couple. 

In the last book we learn that Charlotte is going to therapy. We also know that Jamie suffers from crippling panic attacks and probably PTSD. But in this book, their mental illness are rarely mentioned never mind shown on page. It is like their relationship has suddenly cured them of their mental illnesses which doesn't sit well with me. I do think that being in a happy place in life along with a happy place in your relationship definitely helps with mental illness, but I don't like that their mental illnesses seem to be gone.

I actually really enjoyed Charlotte and Jamie's conclusion at the end of the series. I think I was so disappointed by the book that I was just relived that their relationship went in a way that made sense to me. I'm sad that this is the book that ends the series because it feels like it's ending on such a low note. I was hoping that it would end on one final epic case and it was just meh, personally. If I didn't love Charlotte and Jamie as much as I do I probably would have DNFed. 

Overall,  I do recommend this series as a whole. I would even re-read it when I am missing Jamie and Charlotte because I do genuinely love them so much. I am disappointed by the case in this story, but I I did love their relationship's growth so I didn't fully hate this book, despite how negative this review seems. I think because it's not a romance series but a mystery series, the mystery should have at least been interesting. I think Jamie and Charlotte as characters are worth the negative aspects of this book or even anything I may have disliked in the series as a whole. They're worth reading and pushing past the not great moments. Their development and growth both as individuals but also as friends and a couple is so amazing. 

Thanks for reading!