A Conspiracy in Belgravia is the second of the Lady Sherlock series, and my first exposure to it. Lady Sherlock is an interesting take on the Sherlock Holmes adventures. Charlotte Holmes, a disgraced lady of the Victorian era, opens a business under the assumed name of Sherlock Holmes, who she pretends is her brother at a time when women are not encouraged to have jobs or taxing mental stimulation.
To me, this bears a lot of similarities with the original Sherlock Holmes and is a good homage to it. Just like the original Sherlock Holmes, this mystery doesn't unfold due to following the clues so much as Charlotte's ability to jump to a conclusion that no one else would have. To be honest, now that I've read the ending, I'm not really sure Charlotte deduced the solution so much as she correctly guessed on a random idea, which is one reason I never found the original Sherlock Holmes to be that great either.
Speaking of the ending, I do feel that's a weakness of this book. It isn't clearly explained how Charlotte arrives at her solution, and I feel the ending doesn't tie up everything. I went away from it with a few questions still not answered, which is not ideal when reading a whodunnit.
Another thing I noticed is that this book has a lot of characters and subplots, which may or may not all tie back to the main storyline. It was a little hard for me to initially remember who all the people were. As a result, it feels often like I'm just jumping from one story to another instead of reading a cohesive narrative.
Yet for all that, I still enjoyed this book. I found the setting to be charming, with its prudishness and Victorian reticence. Recently, it feels like all the books I've been reading about a female facing adversity either portrays the heroine as a lush who needs to drink in order to find her wits or an emotional wreck who can barely keep it together. It's refreshing to have such a strong female lead, who when faced with adversity, is able to use her intelligence to find a solution. Just for that, I'm looking forward to reading more from the series.
Readaroo Rating: 4 stars
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