Title: A Study In Honor
Author: Clare O’Dell
Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780062699305
Summary: 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.
Sherlock Holmes is a literary character that people can’t keep away from. Whether it’s direct adaptations of the original books, modern-day re-imaginings, cameos in other stories, or loving homages, he’s almost inescapable.
And that brings us to A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell. Here, Holmes and Watson are two black women in a near-future version of the United States torn apart by a new civil war. It works surprisingly well.
Janet Watson is a veteran. She was serving as a combat medic when her unit was overrun and enemy fire destroyed her arm. She’s now in possession of a poorly re-fitted mechanical arm designed for someone larger than her. The arm doesn’t work well, which means she can’t resume her career as a surgeon. Her prospects are rather grim when she meets Sara Holmes.
Watson doesn’t start out as Holmes’ assistant in this. They’re roommates. Holmes claims to need someone to help pay the rent on her lavish apartment and offers Janet an incredible deal. Watson quickly becomes convinced that Holmes is up to something, but the apartment is beautiful and far nicer than anything else she could afford on her physician’s assistant salary, so she grits her teeth and goes along with it.
That could be a great set-up for an odd couple style story, but this is a Sherlock Holmes story so of course there’s a mystery involving veterans of a specific military action turning up dead under suspicious circumstances.
Aside from the race and gender of the primary players, there’s a few differences between A Study in Honor and a lot of other Sherlock stories. This is more Janet’s story than Sara’s. Rather than being focused on Holmes’ brilliant deductions, this is about Sara putting the pieces together (while putting the pieces of her own life back together), before eventually being swept in to a deeper level by Holmes.
And for fans who have always shipped Holmes and Watson… Well, Janet Watson is a lesbian. Holmes reads as asexual to me, but there are moments when she fakes a romance with Janet for reasons of espionage, which can give shippers a lot of fuel for “will they or won’t they?” speculation. Also, the lavish gifts that Sara gives Janet as part of the cover will please anyone who enjoys those “swept off your feet” by a billionaire romances.
Better writers could probably say a lot about the relationship dynamic between Holmes and Watson. It’s certainly not entirely healthy, but it makes for very good reading.
The author’s website says this is a series, and I’d certainly like to see what O’Dell has planned next for her versions of Holmes and Watson.
A couple notes: This book’s protagonists are black. The author is not. I don’t know whether or not she’s queer. I do feel like she did a fair job with representation, but I say that from the perspective of a white woman. She does acknowledge Tempest Bradford and Nisi Shawl’s Writing the Other workshop in her acknowledgment section. Anyway, I just share this so that readers who would prefer to focus on #OwnVoices works will know that this might not be the book for them.
Also, this is called a “debut novel”, but the author has written other works under a different name (which our book plug-in has helpfully tagged for you). Secondary pen names are weird, y’all.
Those notes aside, I enjoyed this book. I had a hard time putting it down and I’ll definitely pick up the sequel.