CBR11Bingo Classic and Remix squares.
I had never read anything by Arthur Conan Doyle before this.
I have to say, I was a little disappointed.
The first half of the book was about what I expected- introductions of characters, segue in to the mystery to be solved, Holmes solves a case that no one else can. I think most of the English-speaking world has some familiarity with Sherlock Holmes, whether through book, movie, television show or references in other pop culture. I wasn’t expecting the entire second half of the book to be a detour to the Murderous Mormon territory. It was entertaining, but I definitely checked several times that my e-reader had not switched to an entirely different book because the change was so unexpected. And I expected to be wow-ed by Holmes’ brilliance, but it seemed only as though he contacted the last known American address of the victims to solve the case, rather than needing that famous deductive reasoning. I was intrigued by the backstory and will now be looking for more to read on the history of the Mormons.
The Remix book I selected was really just because it was listed shortly after A Study in Scarlet on the suggested titles of my e-reader. The title harkens back to Doyle’s first Sherlock book, but there is otherwise not a lot that is similar. Jemma Moriarty is an international crime boss who is trying to pull off a heist in London. She needs an artifact to be able to conceal herself from an ghost-like creature that is planning on devouring her within a month’s time. She had made a bargain with this spirit and is now trying to con her way out of it. She poses as a detective at a forensics conference in London that is attended by Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, and Garrett Lestrade. She catches their attention with her wits and manipulates them in to helping her steal the artifact she needs. In the course of events, she also seduces all three men. Other than names and their respective jobs, these characters have little in common with the source material. The plot has no similarity to A Study In Scarlet. It was a quick read, and entertaining, but didn’t catch my attention enough to warrant reading further in the series.