Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes mystery series is a lot of fun! Quirky and creative the character of Enola I could see very well fitting into at least the Jeremy Brett world of Sherlock Holmes.
In The Case of the Missing Marquess, we first meet Enola, a self-sufficient, albeit a little lonely and unconventional girl who is turning 14 and hoping for a little attention from her mother. Much to her distress, she finds that not only is her mother not around for her birthday, she has simply — vanished. At first Enola fears for her, but once her brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock investigate and discover that the late Mrs. Holmes has been putting a bit of money aside from Enola’s alleged dance and art lessons and tutors, squirreling it away elsewhere, Enola knows her mother has made a bid for independence, which, as a 19th century suffragist is a big theme for her.
Enola wonders why her mother didn’t take her along, but when her brothers prepare to pack her off for boarding school, she knows why: because she couldn’t. It would have caused too big a scandal. After all, didn’t her mother name her Enola, which, turned backwards spells… alone? Determined not to become just another girl in British finishing schools, eventually married off as an ornament, Enola runs away — and encounters a case that needs solving. What has become of the Viscount Tewksbury? A desperate discovery leads to even more troubles, but messages from her mother and hearing about her famous brother speed her on her way. Fans of Sally Lockhart in The Ruby in the Smoke will be thrilled to bits with a new mystery heroine!
