Horse: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks
I like authors that include a brief "story behind the story" at the end of their works. At the end of Horse, Brooks describes she read about the history of a "forgotten" super horse and its painting along with the story of black jockeys. Some areas of the story were rich in historical details, while others were an opportunity for fictionalization.
Horse contains a few connected story. The primary story is about the horse. It starts out in the antebellum south, with early life of the "black boy" and the horse. His story and that of the horse are continued past the Civil War. This connects the painter who paints the horse with those that take care of the horse. The other story is about a modern scientist who ends up unearthing and studying the bones of the old horse. In both early and modern threads there are multiple views of white on black racisms. Anciently, the treatment of blacks changed (mostly for the worse) after the Civil War. In the modern time, the girl initially thinks of a black man as a thief (because he had the same bike as her.) Later they become friends. He is eventually shot by a police officer as he was helping somebody that fell down. (The officer claims he thought the man was attacking a woman and had a weapon.)
The fourth Charlotte Holmes book wraps up the series. Holmes and Watson are at school. Well sort of. They help with weird things they see going on. In the end, Watson decides to pursue a more "normal" school career. Charlotte opens her "help" clinic to help others that are in need. The book was pretty much a blur, but I liked the epilogue.
Last of August is the second Charlotte Holmes novel. I probably should have read it before reading the third one. It starts with some basic teenage romance coupled with wealthy British dinner parties. Watson really likes Miss Holmes, but struggles with execution. There is also a big mystery to be solved related to art theft rings. Charlotte Holmes continues to be "super human". Perhaps those drugs that she is addicted to give he special power to (almost) always know what to do to help solve cases and get out of trouble.
In this Charlotte Holmes story, there is more "school life" than detective work. Jamie Watson is trying to finish school, but gets framed for a minor crime. Charlotte Holmes is on the run. There is a "unifying" marriages and a bit of independent "detective work", such as slyly digging through airline reservations. High school social life remains important - People don't want to rat on others for fear of killing their social life. Charlotte continues to be nearly "superhuman". Despite being a teenage drug addict, she manages to show up at just the right time to save the day.
Descendants of Sherlock Holmes and Watson meet at an easy coast boarding school and become involved with a murder mystery. James Watson narrates and comes across as a normal teenager. Charlotte Holmes is pure fiction. Watson admits to fantasizing about her, and this helps justify the narrative. However, as a young teenager, she is just too good and deductions - and too worldly. (She is a drug addict, can seamlessly pose as anybody, runs a poker club and has been raped while high.) The story was engaging with a nice growth arc with the main characters, even if their lives seemed a little too vulgarly mature. The parental relationships, on the other hand, were a little on the odd side.