A Beautiful and Terrible Murder

Andrews, Claire M. A Beautiful and Terrible Murder
August 5, 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Irene Adler is living a double life; she's attending All Souls College in Oxford as Isaac Holland while attending Lady Margaret College as herself. It requires frequent changes of costume, including a fake mustache when she is Isaac. Her courses are similar, but the men's science classes are much more informative and demanding. She is in classes with Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty... who is also  her half brother. Their father, a professor at Oxford, was a customer of Irene's mother, a courtesan, and while James doesn't care for Irene, her grandmother Augusta is very supportive. Irene is good friends with Geraldine, but doesn't care much for the popular and snotty Ermyntrude who looks down on people who are not from refined backgrounds. When Irene is the first to discover the body of Bertram, she talks to John Watson, who is on the police force. When Isaac is suspected by the police, it's clear that "he" is being framed, and Irene sets out to investigate, even after the police rule the death a suicide. It's clearly not, since several other young men are killed. She partners with Sherlock over their shared hatred of James, and clues take them to the Bullingdon Club. When several more young men, including Geraldine's brother, are killed, it becomes even more imperative to solve the crimes. Sherlock is framed for one of the murders, and James eventually figures out Irene's alter ego. Will Irene and Sherlock be able to figure out the murderer before they both land in jail?
Strengths: This was an interesting twist on the Sherlock Holmes' stories: the main characters as college students. I had to look up Irene Adler to find out that she was in the story "A Scandal in Bohemia". Her relationship with Moriarty is an interesting one. This read rather like classic Christie or Sayers books, and seeing college life at Oxford in the Victorian era was fun. The murders aren't too bloody, and the real draw of the book is the relationship between the characters. That, and watching Irene going back and forth between being Isaac and being herself. 
Weaknesses: This is more of a young adult book; it's on the long side, very descriptive, and mentions a few things like courtesans and brothels. I was a bit unclear how Irene could manage two enrollments at college, but that's kind of a boring detail. 
What I really think: This would be an intriguing choice for readers who loved Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes series (starting with Death Cloud) or Lee's The Agency: A Spy in the House, also from 2010.