I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Irene Adler is no ordinary young lady. She's at the top of the ranks in the All Souls cohort, a competitive preparatory class reserved for Oxford's brightest minds. But her peers and professors don't know she's a lady at all. To them, she is Isaac Holland.

Keeping up her disguise gets trickier when All Souls students start dying, one by one. Determined to find out who's responsible for the deaths, Irene—as Isaac—teams up with fellow classmate and roommate Sherlock Holmes to track down clues. Their mission grows more dangerous by the day as someone tries to frame Isaac for the murders, and Irene's own father, Dean Moriarty, begins to threaten her seat in school.

Short and Sweet Review

Irene Adler is living a double life at Oxford, attending classes as herself while disguising herself as Isaac Holland so she can receive the same education as the men. When students in the prestigious All Souls cohort begin turning up dead, Irene decides to investigate alongside Sherlock Holmes while also trying to keep her secret identity from being discovered.

I really liked the idea of this story. Making Irene Adler the main character and putting her at the center of a murder mystery at Oxford was such a fun concept. I also enjoyed the Victorian-era setting and getting to see younger versions of familiar characters like Sherlock Holmes, James Moriarty, and Watson. The relationship between Irene and Sherlock was probably one of my favorite parts. Their chemistry and constant back and forth made their scenes entertaining, and I liked watching them try to outsmart each other while working toward the same goal. Irene herself was also an interesting character. She’s incredibly ambitious and determined to prove that she can compete with the men around her, even if it means maintaining an elaborate disguise and essentially living two different lives. I enjoyed watching her navigate both sides of her identity, especially because there was so much going on between her academics, friendships, family issues, and the murders. Her relationship with her grandmother and the complicated connection to her father and Moriarty added another layer to her character as well. Unfortunately, the mystery itself didn’t work as well for me as I had hoped. The beginning was interesting, but there were so many characters introduced so quickly that it was difficult to keep track of everyone, especially as the murders started happening. Irene’s investigation also became repetitive in the middle of the book. She would focus on one theory, things would go wrong, and then she would continue pursuing the same idea even when there were other clues suggesting she should look elsewhere. Considering how intelligent Irene is supposed to be, there were quite a few moments where I wanted her to put the obvious pieces together sooner. I also struggled a little with Irene’s character development. She’s constantly insisting that she can handle everything on her own, but then some of the more important discoveries or moments of progress come from Sherlock or other characters. I wanted to see more of Irene’s deductions actually driving the mystery forward. She definitely has some great moments where her intelligence and determination shine, but I felt like the story didn’t always let her be as capable as the premise suggested she would be. There were also a few things about the disguise that required me to suspend my disbelief. Irene is constantly switching between being herself and Isaac, including changing her clothes and putting on a fake mustache, and somehow almost no one questions it. I can accept some suspension of disbelief in a YA historical mystery, but there were moments where I found myself thinking, Really? Nobody has figured this out yet? That being said, I did stay invested in the story. Even when the mystery wasn’t working perfectly for me, I still wanted to know what was going to happen to Irene, Sherlock, and the rest of the characters. I also liked the relationships and family drama woven throughout the mystery, and there were several twists that I didn’t see coming.

Overall, A Beautiful and Terrible Murder had a really interesting premise and a fun cast of characters, but the mystery and Irene’s deductions didn’t completely live up to the setup. I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes-inspired world, Irene and Sherlock’s chemistry, and the historical setting, but the repetitive middle and some of the plot conveniences kept me from rating it higher. Still, it was an entertaining read, and I think fans of YA historical mysteries or Sherlock Holmes-inspired stories would probably enjoy giving it a try.