A Beautiful and Terrible Murder

A dark academia take on the core Holmesian cast, starring one spunky Irene Adler, who’s leading a double life as Isaac Holland in order to prove she’s better than all the privileged young men vying for the top academic position. When her classmates start turning up dead, Irene finds an unlikely detective partner in Sherlock Holmes, the other social outcast of their class. With the murders isolated to Oxford, it’s only a matter of time until they catch the killer, but only at the cost of many secrets, and as the bodies pile up, it may already be too late.

Irene is one hundred percent drive and ambition, and between her dual academic schedule (Irene and Isaac both have grades to maintain), frequent disguise changes, and determination to leap into any investigations herself, the pace is non-stop. While the focus is on her life as Isaac, where most of the murder investigation occurs, the time she spends as herself in the nursing program and at social activities is also full of intrigue, especially as her less-than-positive familial relationship is revealed.

Stylistically, the narrative has a fun way of springing little surprises on the reader, even with facts about Irene that she herself obviously already knows. The tension between Alder and Holmes is electric from the off, and they both delight in going toe-to-toe. Later in the book, I would have liked to see more reflection on the weightier subjects, such as the looming presence of death. Also, I was looking forward to the inevitable moment when Irene’s true identity became revealed, but in those instances, it’s met with almost universal nonchalance and not revisited.

As a retelling, I don’t know that there’s a particular connection between these characters and the originals, apart from the names and basic friendships. Here we have a younger Holmes - observant as ever, yet fallible, flirtatious, and not having the urge to torture a violin. There’s also diligent Watson, scheming Moriarty, and secretive, coy, Irene Adler (although, I won’t pretend to have enough knowledge of the original to draw any comparisons there). They’re a fun cast, but if the names were changed, I think the story would have worked just as well as an entirely original story.

This can be read as a standalone, but there is a sequel ahead.