I was recommended this drama a while back but forgot about it and then was reminded again because I'm watching Tiger & Crane with ZLH and this was his first drama. Though called Maiden Holmes, there's less emphasis on the case solving and more about the Romance of the leads. So watch for the romance.

Pros: I love the Fab 5! Their dynamic is great from episode one. You've got the FL who pretends to be a man by cross dressing to clear her family's name after being what she thought to be the sole survivor of that massacre. Her detective skills are pretty good and she has solved many cases. ML is the prince who is ousted from office by his rebellion seeking uncle (also the main villain of the piece). Thankfully his brother was the new emperor and had a good relationship with him where he could help him out. SFL is a genius doctor and SML is a great martial artist though can't read the room for nothing is quite dumb most of the time. Adding on is ML's teen aid who's a great cook. The chemistry between the leads is obvious especially when the ML turns those seductive eyes onto FL, it's like ok it got a bit warm in this room. Furthermore, the kisses are real! And there are enough of them. For ZLH's first gig ever, he was hella convincing especially in terms of being intelligent and trapping the bad people. The entire group really complimented each other. Misunderstandings if not immediately cleared up, are done so in a smart fashion. There are a few baubles with FL temporarily seeming to lose her sensibility but she regains it more or less quickly. Good fight scenes when they happened.

Obviously a lower budget production but it worked out. The villain was obvious from the get go. The one moment that made me legit shed a tear was when ML's guard sacrificed himself to protect his prince towards the end. That guy was awesome the entire time and it really brought forth their strong friendship. Comedy was decent.

Cons: The cases though leading to the main antagonist weren't very strong and they could never bring someone in alive. Once our group had the evidence, the evildoer was either disposed of or killed themselves. Every single time to the point that it was laughable. You were just waiting for it each time a new case popped up. Also while the SFL thought the FL was a dude, she developed a crush on her and that whole thing was rather cringey. Suspended logic also was a must for a lot of things; like the cave thing because they had to figure out their misunderstanding and realize they were soulmates from a young age, add a really great kiss at the end and then it was worth it lol!

The showdown in the last two episodes was relatively lackluster as it just had the villain walk around the throne room yakking about his plans only to be outsmarted by the ML.

Would I recommend it? Only for the romance of the leads and the moving along storyline. It's a good in between series especially if you like an intense seductive ML ;).