The Case for Jamie: 03/21/18

The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro is the third of the Charlotte Holmes YA mysteries. After the tragic events of The Last of August, Charlotte and Jamie are separated. Jamie is still at school but Charlotte is with her family or in rehab or on her own trying to get her life in order.

From Jamie's point of view this volume reads like an update to "The Adventure of the Empty House," the first story after Sherlock's death where Doyle revived him because of the demands of his fans. Since it's just not practical to try to kill of a Holmes (or nowadays pretend to), Cavallaro uses separation to the same effect.

Basically without Holmes, Watson does eventually go to pieces. Here, though, Watson is systematically being driven over the edge. He's being gaslighted. By whom and why he's not sure but Charlotte's influence was strong enough to at least help him realize that he's being targeted.

From Charlotte's point of view there is the extended flashback. The gap in the original timeline between "The Adventure of the Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House" is three years. Here, because they are teenagers, that gap is kept to months, but we're still given an extended look in Charlotte's life and the events that made her who she is at the start of A Study in Charlotte through to the events after The Last of August.

Most of the novel — more than two thirds is told from completely separate locations and on different timelines. It's really not until that final third that everything comes back into focus as one coherent adventure that reunites Charlotte and Jamie. I'm usually pretty astute with what's going on but I missed some big plot points so the big reveal was extra fun during the climax.

The fourth volume, coming out spring of 2019 is A Question of Holmes.

Four stars

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