A Study in Honor
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A selection in Parade’s roundup of “25 Hottest Books of Summer 2018”
A Paste Magazine’s Most Anticipated 25 books of 2018 pick
A Medium’s Books pick for We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018 list
Set in a near future Washington, D.C., a clever, incisive, and fresh feminist twist on a classic literary icon—Sherlock Holmes—in which Dr. Janet Watson and covert agent Sara Holmes will use espionage, advanced technology, and the power of deduction to unmask a murderer targeting Civil War veterans.
Dr. Janet Watson knows firsthand the horrifying cost of a divided nation. While treating broken soldiers on the battlefields of the New Civil War, a sniper’s bullet shattered her arm and ended her career. Honorably discharged and struggling with the semi-functional mechanical arm that replaced the limb she lost, she returns to the nation’s capital, a bleak, edgy city in the throes of a fraught presidential election. Homeless and jobless, Watson is uncertain of the future when she meets another black and queer woman, Sara Holmes, a mysterious yet playfully challenging covert agent who offers the doctor a place to stay.
Watson’s readjustment to civilian life is complicated by the infuriating antics of her strange new roommate. But the tensions between them dissolve when Watson discovers that soldiers from the New Civil War have begun dying one by one—and that the deaths may be the tip of something far more dangerous, involving the pharmaceutical industry and even the looming election. Joining forces, Watson and Holmes embark on a thrilling investigation to solve the mystery—and secure justice for these fallen soldiers.
Customer Reviews
Absolutely amazing
Stars: 5 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Lisa Renee Pitts
Series: The Janet Watson Chronicles Book 1
Steam Level: Not Steamy
I read this for the I Heart Sapphic 2025 Reading Challenge for the prompt Wartime.
I had bought this book years ago and it sat on my TBR, completely forgotten until I saw the audiobook on sale. Why, oh why, did I wait so long to read this amazing book?
Quick Thoughts:
- This book is a reimagining of Sherlock Holmes where both Watson and Holmes are queer, black women and set during the new American Civil War with a slight sci-fi bent of some new technology but not a full overhaul of it
- Just like in the original books, the is told only through Waton’s POV
- There are mentions of the Racist Yam having been elected before the president in the book and the havoc he created that hit way too close to home now that we’re suffering through his second term
- The mystery doesn’t really pick up steam until the second half of the book because of all the things needed to be built up since this is set in alternative universe
- I love that the author does not sugarcoat or minimize the trauma and ugliness that comes with war and how it’s even worse with it being the new Civil War
- Both of the protagonists feel like the characters they’re based on (Watson, a practical, down to earth person, Holmes an insufferable know it all) while making them feel brand new
- The weaving of names and characters from the original universe to this one was masterfully done in such a way that you don’t need any extra knowledge to follow the story
- I’m finding that reimaginings of Sherlock Holmes are a lot more fun and interesting than books written set in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original universe
- There aren’t many twists and turns to the mystery but, for me, that wasn’t the draw of this book. The setting and characters are where this truly shines
- I haven’t listened to anything Lisa Renee Pitts has done before this and I’m a bit bummed by it. She was fantastic. Her voice inflections for different characters made dialogue easy to follow and her narration was smooth. I’ll be checking out more of her work
Overall I loved this book and I’m sad there is only one more book in the series. Now I have to decide if I want to read the second book ASAP or wait a little longer to have something to look forward to. What wonderful problems to have.