Review: Enola Homes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

I recently posted my review of ENOLA HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS by Nancy Springer on my library's Facebook page.

ENOLA HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS by Nancy Springer is the first in a six-book series featuring the hitherto unknown younger sister of famous Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes. First published in the United States in 2006, the recent Netflix film has led to the series being published in paperback in the UK. [NB. The final two books in the series are available as audiobooks via Overdrive/Libby and as CD copies in the library].

Enola and her mother having been living in the country with little to no contact with Enola’s elder brothers Mycroft and Sherlock. Enola is very bright but has not had a conventional education. On Enola’s fourteenth birthday, her mother disappears, without it seems, a trace. Enter the brothers. Shocked by the state of the house and Enola, Mycroft arranges for Enola to attend boarding school.

Enola thinks otherwise and sets off to find her mother, using some clues that her mother left behind for her…alone.

Enola’s journey to London overlaps with a missing person’s case, which she cannot ignore and so lands herself in a lot of danger however she is intelligent enough to save the day.

This is a short book and the first half is Enola escaping her brother’s intentions, and the second half is her escapades in London. It very much sets up the series with Enola becoming not a detective like her brother but a finder of lost things. And there is the ongoing mystery of her mother’s whereabouts.

This is an enjoyable mystery set in the Victorian Era with a humorous, resourceful and quick-witted heroine. Due to some briefly referenced adult themes, it is more of a teenage book than junior fiction.

Also available in the teenage section, is the ‘Young Sherlock’ series by Andrew Lane.

Review: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (audio book)

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer and read by Katherine Kellgren (3 CDs, November 2011, Whole Story Audiobooks, ISBN: 978140749 413 5)

Review: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline is the fifth in this series which features Enola Holmes, younger sister to Sherlock. Enola is now fourteen and is living with her elderly and deaf landlady Mrs Tupper, under an assumed name. She has run away from home to avoid being sent to boarding school.

The reader has met the young Mrs Tupper in the prologue where she had accompanied her husband to Scutari (Turkey) during the Crimean War and where subsequently her husband became mortally ill and was tended to by the "Lady with the Lamp", Florence Nightingale.

Thirty years later in London, Mrs Tupper is sent a mysterious note demanding she hand over a message. Mrs Tupper has no notion of what the missive means but the letter-writer does not accept that and kidnaps the old lady and ransacks her home.

Enola, who sees Mrs Tupper as family - in part replacing her own missing mother - must solve the mystery and find Mrs Tupper before any harm befalls her. Her adventure has her mixing with high society and avoiding and outwitting her own brother from time to time.

I really enjoyed The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline which has an independent, clever teenager as its heroine. Written by an American, the language sounds authentically British and is quite sophisticated. The plot is quite complicated - I'm not sure I fully understand the why but the who and what is clear enough and I like how it introduces the reader to the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale which may lead to further reading on those topics. There is an ongoing mystery regarding the disappearance of Enola's mum - is she alive still? I look forward to finding out more. There is an excellent scene near the end where Florence Nightingale explains to Sherlock Holmes the horror of corsets and boarding schools!

It's a shame that the first one in the series available in the UK is the fifth but at least the sixth, The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye, will be out on audio book in February.

Like the author, the narrator is also American but she narrates in an almost flawless English accent, only tripping-up over words like "shone" and "perseverance". Her regional accents are equally well done and her Florence Nightingale is a charm.

More Sherlock Holmes related series for children can be found here.