Immoderate Praise for Another New Sherlock. Much love.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an impressive novel.

I love the main character--which I was predisposed to, already approving of most incarnations of Sherlock--but Charlotte in this book is unique and impossible not to adore. She enjoys the usual suite of Sherlockian skills, but her solution for an intractable problem--how to achieve an independent life of her own, something the original Sherlock never had to think of--was ruthlessly brilliant and somewhat heartbreaking. I also loved Mrs. Jebediah, who adds so much color and interest to the story and became someone to root for. Lord Ingram and his wife and Inspector Treadles (and his wife!) are all interesting in their own ways, and sympathetic, and they all point to the same theme.

Regarding the theme of the novel, I enjoyed and agreed with it, which was an analysis of the "woman question" and the restrictions placed on women at this time. Seeing the pressure put on remarkable women (Charlotte and Inspector Treadles' wife, Alice, and others) to be subservient and perform no useful work brings the question into stark relief, illustrating for the reader what a waste such restrictions were, and how damaging to women's lives. But the effect on average women, those with no power, money, or connections, is shown to be even more cruel, and such women's hopes for fairness even more illusory. Over and over, the actions of characters and the plot are propelled by this asymmetrical tension, by men holding down and taking advantage of women while those women fight to maintain as much autonomy and control as they could manage in an unjust society.

And yet it's a murder mystery. With romance. And Sherlock's signature parlor-trick discernment. All fun things.

A good novelist invents engaging plots and maintains reader interest with effective pacing, which the author does here. But a good novelist is also a good writer, and Sherry Thomas is that. The prose here is wonderful and always tied to her purpose--clues and plot points laid out in clear language, characters speaking in unique voices, beautiful passages where appropriate. In fact, I would say that it is noticeably good writing, which is not a thought I often have. Satisfying, engrossing, and fun--nice combination.

It's impossible, reading this novel, not to think about the intelligent and gifted women in my own life. I think how different things are now from 100 or 120 years ago, how their lives (and everyone else's) have been impacted by generations of change, but at the same time I am confronted by things which have not changed yet. I was pushed to an awkward amount of thinking while reading and reflecting on this novel, and for that, I'm grateful to the author.

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