This is a retelling of Sherlock Holmes from the perspective of Irene Adler. Irene is leading a double life, tired of only taking the womens classes in school, Irene disguises herself as Isaac Holland to take the classes that women are not allowed. As Isaac, Irene intends to finish the top of her class. When her classmates start getting murdered, Irene is determined to solve their murders. Disguised as Isaac, Irene teams up with fellow classmate Sherlock Holmes, but how long can they work together before Sherlock discovers Isaac's true identity.

Irene was a strong resourceful character who seamlessly moves between her two personas. It was fun to see her in both of her identities. Irene is clever as she pieces together the clues to try and find the culprit who is murdering her classmates. It was fun to see her interactions with Sherlock as both Irene and Isaac. You see other characters from the original Sherlock works, such as Watson and Moriarty.

This was a fun read, and I enjoyed trying to piece together all the clues and try to solve the case along with Irene. I look forward to more Irene Adler mysteries.

⤷ thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

England has yet to see the last of Irene Adler

Pitched as for fans of Stalking Jack the Ripper which I have never read but can see the similaritires, I think it's also for fans of Enola Holmes because those are the vibes I got! A quite enjoyable read, if you consider reading about death enjoyable (apparently I do) with plenty of tension and stakes to keep you going. I enjoyed the likeable characters (aka Sherlock and Irene) but that's about it!

Not sure if I like that cover...it is giving AI but who am I to judge 😭 All in all, I enjoyed this and found myself binging through it in two hours! Thank you again to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc!

Thank you to Little, Brown and NetGalley for the ARC!

As a fan of Stalking Jack the Ripper, I was so excited to receive an early copy of A Beautiful and Terrible Murder! Unfortunately, I struggled to remain engaged in the writing, and it just didn't grip me. However, if you're looking for a retelling of Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes and don't mind classic YA storytelling, this is right up your alley!