Abandoned by Booklikes

Please note that this review spoils some events from prior books.

Well I try to complete series even when I dislike them since sometimes the author can pull things together. Cavallaro almost manages to redeem her characters in the fourth book in the Charlotte Holmes series, but for me, I found myself mostly bored about the case that Charlotte and her Watson were doing in this one. Cavallaro mostly focuses on Charlotte and Watson's relationship and we now have Charlotte's POV for the majority of the book. She doesn't sound like herself and after a while I just went along with it. The ending was meh to me though. I just don't really care about her having a romance. It was fine with Holmes not having one in the original stories and I don't know why Cavallaro could not have just had Charlotte be an "ace" considering she pretty much presents that way through the first two books.

In "A Question of Holmes" we have Charlotte and Jamie back in London. Jamie is preparing for school and Charlotte is figuring some things out. She's ready to try for a relationship with Jamie though she's still worried it won't work and she will drive him away. With a new case at end (finding out who is trying to stop a theater performance at Oxford and who was behind some mishaps the year before) Charlotte and Jamie are out there detecting. We get some new faces, but no one grabs me. 

I felt for Charlotte in this one. Her family is the worst and she's finally resetting herself with her uncle's help. She finds herself playacting with people and realizes she's tired of it. She is a crossroads and is worried about what happens if she chooses a different path from her Watson. The book could have been about that and it would have worked better. Instead Cavallaro undoes some events from "The Last of August" which made me roll my eyes. At least Cavallaro acknowledges how terrible Charlotte was with regards to how she ruined August's life just because he wasn't in love with her. I feel like if Charlotte had been Charlie and August had been Agatha the fandom in this series wouldn't have been as forgiving.

Watson is a lot more likable when you are not in his head every second. I loathed Jamie the last two books so this was a nice break. He appears again in the end and I wish that Cavallaro had kept it Charlotte's voice throughout.

We hear about Jamie's father and the mess that is his life. One wonders if the Watson's seek out the Holmes because they have shit else to do and need danger and excitement. We have Leander, Lena, Milo, and others.

The writing was just okay. The mystery was boring and I don't know what else to say besides that. Most of the book was just about Charlotte trying to be there for Jamie though she's still experiencing issues after being raped (see A Study in Charlotte). The flow was lackluster. I think because there is no urgency in the case that Charlotte is dealing with. There's a curve ball thrown in via Charlotte's aunt (no spoilers) but that ends up not being anything either. Just something I think that doesn't work in the end.

The setting of Oxford doesn't feel that present to me which is weird. I kept thinking about "Lyra's Oxford" and wished that I was reading that.  

The ending was a miss for me the whole way. I think the smartest thing for Cavallaro was to go one with these characters, but ah well. I thought the overall series was merely 2 stars though. The last two books were a mess IMHO and though this book was more coherent, it just didn't work.