The Last of August Book Review

The Last of August is the second book in the Charlotte Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro.

BLURB

Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are in a chase across Europe to untangle a web of shocking truths about the Holmes and Moriarty families.

Jamie and Charlotte are looking for a winter break reprieve in Sussex after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But nothing about their time off is proving simple, including Holmes and Watson’s growing feelings for each other.

When Charlotte’s beloved Uncle Leander goes missing from the Holmes estate–after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring–the game is afoot once again, and Charlotte throws herself into a search for answers.

So begins a dangerous race through the gritty underground scene in Berlin and glittering art houses in Prague, where Holmes and Watson discover that this complicated case might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other.

REVIEW

I adored that the book started with the family trees for the Holmes and Moriarty families with comments written by Charlotte for some of the family members. You got to see the branches of the families and the connections with the Holmes, Moriarty and Watson families.

The book takes Charlotte and Jamie away from Sherringford and into Europe where family politics between the Holmes and the Moriarty’s come in to play as Charlotte’s uncle goes missing and her mother is poisoned. Charlotte and Jamie are sent to Berlin, where they investigate the mystery that Leander was investigating that is thought to have caused his disappearance.

I love how Milo plays a much larger part in this book and we are introduced to the man Charlotte knew as a child, August Moriarty, who now works for her brother.

As always with mystery novels, the twists and turns in this book leads to a shocking ending and the biggest cliffhanger that sees the unraveling of Jamie’s romanticism of Holmes which was very interesting to read.

I found bringing the characters to another country with politics and organised crime heightened the stake significantly for me and I enjoyed it immensely.