*3.5 Stars
The idea of a gender-swapped AND queer Sherlock Holmes had my attention immediately! I believe this story would have worked much better as a full-length novel. The "mystery" didn't feel like a typical Sherlock Holmes book, wherein they dazzle the readers with their stunning intellect. The characters were interesting and I would love the chance to read more of the author's Sherlock Holmes.

In this gender swapped and modern take on Sherlock Holmes; Holmes and her partner Watson are assigned to a case where a homeless woman has been murdered and Holmes’ name is carved into the corpse. But with her nemesis, Moriarty firmly in jail, Holmes must track down the killer before more people die with her name on them.

The idea of a female Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade; I think this should have been a full novel rather than a short story. The concept buckles under a lackluster resolution to the mystery itself, which is kinda important when you’re adapting or parodying Sherlock Holmes. The representation of Holmes’ asexuality, Watson being a lesbian, and a budding romance between Holmes and Inspector Lestrade is done really well and I enjoyed those parts but it wasn’t enough to balance out my disappointment with the mystery. That’s a shame considering such a great setup and good writing! 3 out of 5.

Received from NetGalley
Completed 1/8/19
61 page ebook

This is a short story about an asexual / lesbian Sherlock Holmes. I don't know why Sherlock Holmes was the character in which the author chose to tell this short story, but that's what it is. While there is a "mystery" the shortness of the book really makes it about the relationship between Sherlock and Lestrade.

I couldn't give more than 3 stars to this, mainly because it was so short. It wasn't awful and was good for what it was, but it wasn't great. It was enjoyable for a few minutes read, something quick and easy if you want to read about a LBQT character(s).


Setting = A
Plot = B
Conflict = B
Characters = B
Theme = B

Alchemy by Marie S. Crosswell
Less Than Three Press, 2018
Crime Fiction/Romance; 47 pgs

In a twist on the original Sherlock Holmes and Watson characters, Marie S. Crosswell introduces readers to a reimagining of them as women. Sherlock is called upon by a female Detective Lestrade to take a look at the body of a homeless person found murdered. It is not the first, nor will it the last. What has caught everyone’s attention is the fact that Sherlock’s name is carved onto the bodies of the victims. A sure message to the brilliant detective, although what it means is anyone’s guess, other than that this is very personal.

The relationship between Detective Lestrade and Sherlock plays a big part in this novella. The two are clearly attracted to each other—although this is new to both of them in some respects. Lestrade has had heterosexual relationships in the past and Sherlock is asexual. They take their time in feeling out their relationship, and just what the other expects and wants from one another. Watson herself is a lesbian, and I liked that Sherlock took her feelings into consideration before pursuing anything with Lestrade. I loved how their relationship played out, how well the two communicated with each other—something you don’t see enough of when it comes to romance in a novel. Each of the women in Alchemy are well fleshed out and relatable characters. I do wish there had been more time spent with Watson as that character has always been a favorite of mine in the canon. I liked Crosswell’s female version too.

The mystery itself in this story is fairly weak as far as it goes. I had been excited by the notion of a female version of Sherlock Holmes and seeing her in action, but her skills of deduction left much to be desired. Things fell into place a bit too easily. Maybe had this been a full length novel instead of a novella, I would have been more satisfied. The author would have had more time to weave a more complex crime in which we could see the good detective and her partner in action. Overall, I think this novella held a lot of promise for me, but in the end didn’t quite live up to my expectations—at least in regards to the mystery aspect.

Oh this was so fascinating. A somewhat dark, modern, gender-swapped retelling of Sherlock Holmes, where not only is Sherlock asexual, but she falls in love with female Lestrade <i>and</i> still keeps her wonderful friendship with Watson?
The story was intriguing, the ace relationship was clearly written by someone who knew what was up and it was treated with the respect it deserved and I loved this version of the main trio. I had some quibbles, but the 4 stars are mostly because I felt it was too short and I'd gladly read entire series in this universe with these protagonists.

The idea of Sherlock Holmes as a woman? Cool. As an asexual lesbian? Okay. A Holmesian mystery? Yes please.

Alchemy should have worked better for me, and I'm sorry it didn't...

The present tense is almost always going to hurt a story for me. This tense rarely comes out sounding normal, and this one was continually awkward for me. I found myself translating it in my head which was pretty distracting.

The mystery itself was interesting and I enjoyed how the whole story is told from Holmes' point of view rather than Watson's. I appreciated the way the remaining original characters make an appearance, it helped to keep my interest going.

I have to say honestly, I found the whole love affair/relationship dynamic a bit distracting and I'm not sure we needed so much internal processing on Holmes' part to work through it all.

A serial killer is on the loose and the messages he leaves with the bodies suggest that he’s trying to settle a score with Holmes. Now she has to find the person behind this but also deal with something entirely unexpected: the developing romantic feelings she has for her friend.

The romance part of the story is short and sweet. Sherlock is asexual and develops feelings for Lestrade (also a woman in this version) who only has had relationships with men so far. Now Sherlock doubts that Lestrade would want a non-sexual relationship with another woman. These issues don’t take up that much space are mostly resolved quickly (Alchemy is a fairly short novella that focuses more on the mystery than on the romance plot) but I found them handled well. I have read a few stories that feature asexual characters where the character is drowning in self-hatred, convinced nobody would ever want them until their one true love assures them otherwise. Then everybody is immediately happy. Here Holmes does worry about Lestrade not wanting the type of relationship she is offering and it’s clear that she would be unhappy if that was the case. But she doesn’t put everything of herself in the hope for a relationship.

The mystery itself was simply not my cup of tea; it’s rather violent. The murders are brutal and there is a long fist-fight described in vivid detail. And - more importantly – it wasn’t really a Holmes mystery. Almost all the original Holmes-stories are told by Watson. That means we don’t see what’s going on in Holmes’s head or much of his struggle trying to figure out the mystery. We only see him explaining his deductions afterwards. A story told from Holmes’s POV means we see him (or in this case her) being as clueless about everything as the police and that takes away a lot of the magic the original stories hold for me. Besides, this Sherlock doesn’t even do much deducting. She gets the culprit pretty much handed on a silver plate and then does some extremely un-Holmesian things to catch him. Which brings me to my biggest problem with this story: the characters don’t feel like Holmes and Watson to me. If you swapped out their names I would never think they had anything to do with them. And that’s not the fault of the modern setting. I recently read Aliette de Bodard’s The Tea Master and the Detective. It's a (non-romance) science fiction story in which the main characters are called Long Chau and The Shadow's Child and the world is as far away from a Victorian London as one can get. But the Holmesian influence was still easy to see. Alchemy, on the other hand, feels like somebody wrote a crime story and afterwards replaced the names.

The story does offer good asexual representation and also hints of a non-sexual relationship between Holmes and Watson that goes beyond friendship. But it does that in a mystery that is only mediocre, very violent and definitely not a Holmes story.

A modern Sherlock Holmes retelling where Sherlock is an asexual lesbian? SIGN ME UP! Some recent adaptations that shall remain nameless have kind of caused me to stay away from Sherlock Holmes things in recent years but I really enjoyed this one. Sherlock, Watson, and Lestrade are all women while Mycroft and Moriarty are still men. The mystery aspect is honestly a bit under-developed and makes me wish this was a little bit longer so more time could have been spent focusing there, but I really like everyone's characterization and how Sherlock and Lestrade's relationship and Sherlock's asexuality were presented. The scene where Lestrade was trying to tell Sherlock that she wanted to be in a relationship was especially cute to me because as a fellow clueless asexual I was just like 'yeah sounds about right'. Definitely a fun short story for people looking for some diversity in their Sherlock Holmes adaptations and I hope the author decides to continue with it.

“Someone like you can’t be the hero without someone like me.”

I really enjoyed this gender-bent wlw Sherlock novella. I mean, nearly everyone is a lady besides the bad guys.

That being said, I'm not a fan of present tense and the case Sherlock is working on doesn't have the most complex solution in the end, but that can be excused by the shortness of the story.

The connection, relationship and backstory between Sherlock and Lestrade was an unexpected, but really nice surprise. And I liked the decision to portrait this female Sherlock as wanting intimacy and closeness and being interested in women, but without wanting sex. It fits how people know the original Sherlock.

One thing I would have liked to be different was the portrayal of Watson (with Sherlock).
You know, no matter the gender or other factors people chose for their adaption’s, Sherlock and Watson are one of those iconic Dous and should always be.

And even tho I enjoyed the surprise of seeing Sherlock in a special relationship with Lestrade here, I was kind of missing seeing Sherlock and Watson as a team. Watson was barely a part of the story and when she was, she could have been a random bystander, even tho Sherlock says that Lestrade and Watson are the people closest to her.
Then at the end, there is actually one scene like I wanted it. Sherlock actually tells Watson about Lestrade and her feelings. And Watson is supportive and manages to ease her mind about her fears. And I absolutely loved that.
But that happened at around 90% of the ebook. And even tho the story is fairly short, that shouldn't be the only real conversation those iconic partners have with each other.

Nonetheless, I would definitely like to read a longer novel like this – maybe with a bit more of the complex Sherlock-esque investigating, more depth for the characters and character-relations, more mind games like hinted on between Sherlock and Moriarty… and definitely even more of Lestrade and Sherlock eating take-out on the floor before cuddling.

3.5 Stars. This was a pretty good modernized and gender switched Sherlock Homes novella. In this story Sherlock is an asexual lesbian, Watson is also a lesbian and Detective Lestrade is a woman. There are a few other characters you might recognize from the Holmes universe but they didn’t switch gender. I enjoyed both the modern flare and the gender change; it was a good idea for a story.

Someone is killing homeless people and carving Sherlock’s name in their skin. This case feels really personal to Sherlock and she has to keep herself together to solve it before more people are killed.

I found this story easily to get sucked into and thought the characters were well done. Sherlock felt like what I thought a female Sherlock would be like. My only one small complaint was I thought the crime was a little too easy to solve. Sherlock can see things and find clues no one else does and I think that part of Sherlock was missing a little in this book. However, the climax scene of the story was exciting and well written.

There was a teeny, tiny bit of a romance. Sherlock must face what her feeling for Lestrade really are. She knows she loves her as a friend, but is it more than that? Since this is a novella you don’t get a ton of time with just the two characters, but I did really like them as a potential couple.

This is a short read maybe 60 to 90 minutes pending on you reading speed, but it felt like a complete story. If the author Crosswell wrote a Sherlock book 2, I would absolutely read it. If you are a mystery fan or a Holmes fan you will probably enjoy this.

Well written, fast paced and an interesting twist on Sherlock Holmes, Watson and Lestrande.

Worth it

Anyone ever watch Warehouse 13? Remember  how H.G. Wells is a woman? Welp. Now Sherlock Holmes is, too in Marie S. Crosswell's, Alchemy. Not only is she a woman, she's a gay woman, an asexual, gay woman. Never try to tell me representation doesn't matter, because it does. Any one of these traits would make me want to read this novella/short story, but all three of them endeared me to this book even more.

Someone is murdering homeless people and carving Sherlock's name on their corpses. It's up to Holmes, her brother, Watson (also a woman, whoop whoop) and DI Lestrade to solve the mystery before anyone else dies. Sherlock's changing friendship to potential romance with Lestrade complicates matters, as well.

I started this book last night, and if I hadn't desperately needed sleep, would have finished it in one sitting. The plot moves quickly, the characters are cool as eff, and the mystery is intriguing enough to keep you interested, but not so complicated that it loses you. I don't typically do mystery, but I was into this story. 

I applaud the author's descriptions of fights. I tend to get lost in them and lose interest after 2 minutes of any of the thousands of Marvel fights, but I was able to follow the characters' movements without glossing over sentences. 

Overall, my only complaint is that it wasn't longer. I'd like to see some more character and plot development and spend some more time with these characters, but as I was in a race to the finish, I appreciated the brevity as well. This one is out now, so definitely check it out.

Unlike many reviews I’ve attempted recently, the start of this one is easy: Why did I read this work here? Because it involves Sherlock Holmes, it’s a short story, it’s a mystery, and I like all three things. Plus it might be interesting to read what a female Holmes might be like, with a female Watson. I do not go in knowing if they are supposed to have a relationship or not, just that the two main characters have been ‘regendered’. The work was in the LGBT section, though.


I’ve never read the author before, though, and no one else has read and reviewed this work. So I’m a risk-taker. *nods* That’s why I requested the story, though, what I said up there. It looked interesting.

Was it?

Well the opening was weird. About a dream, the dreamer dreamed they were a stingray swimming around the ocean. At the time of reading the opening for the first time, I had had no clue who the dreamer might be, though it becomes clear later.

The second noticeable thing, after the weird dream, is that the police person Holmes tended to talk with (I’ve the vague idea this is the case) has also been regendered. Is everyone in this story female? Well the homeless woman lying dead at Lestrade’s feet is also female. So . . . yes? More information needed (ah, Holmes makes reference to an imaginary male police detective as the stand-in for the average police investigator, therefore, there be males on this world, question answered; a male in the flesh finally appears – Mycroft remains male in this universe).

Right, let’s stop with writing about each word, sentence, and paragraph.

Why was Holmes called in for the death of a homeless woman? Holmes name was carved into the body.

Holmes doesn’t seem as outwardly all-knowing in this universe.

Ah, wonder why it took me so long to realize why things felt ‘off’. Everything is from Holmes point of view, not Watson’s. It’s odd being in Holmes head, though other stories have done it.

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This is set in modern times, based on well-hidden clues, like mobile phones.
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Eww, kissing.

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That’s what my reviews become with short stories: Random thoughts with Lexxi as she reads (oops, I admit now, I’m writing this as I read).

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There’s a nice buzz/vibe to watching Holmes investigate, but . . . I can’t say as it’d be spoiler-y.

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The mystery plot-line was interesting, though there was that issue I can’t mention for spoiler-y reasons. The romance plot-line was . . . different. Well, not really – romance has popped up in Holmes stories before and tends to be weird/different than the norm. As it is/was here. So I guess, in that sense, the romance plot-line meshes with my idea of Holmes, for being weird. Heh.

All-in-all this was an interesting story. On one hand, making this be a Holmes story adds a certain tension to things, at least to me, to my reading of the story. Needing to watch closely at this interpretation of the character. On the other hand, this story probably works . . . better as a Holmes story, at least one set in modern times like the modern television series are. Better as there are added layers already built into the story – like I knew about Holmes drug issue, the connection to Watson, Lestrade, Moriarty, and Mycroft. And to boxing. Oh, and the vague not-clearly-stated asexual vibe of the character.

There were only two things really missing from this story: I might have preferred it set a century ago for . . . reasons; and there was no connection to music like Holmes’s love of listening to or playing music in the original stories (or was that a later addition?). At least I do not think I noticed music. Was there music? Hmms. I don’t think there was. No matter.

Rating: 4.44

June 23 2018