Module 9: The Case of the Missing Marquess

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Book Summary: When Enola Holmes's mother disappears without a trace on her 14th birthday, Enola is convinced that she needs to find her. However, her brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft, are determined that she should go to finishing school and become the proper lady that her mother never made sure she was. With money left behind for her by her mother, and discovered by Enola alone after using the book of ciphers left for her by her mother, Enola leaves her home of 14 years for London, thinking that will be the best place to find her from. On her way there, she stumbles on the case of a missing boy, who has disappeared  as suddenly as she. Determining that he has run away rather than been kidnapped, she follows him to London, and finds herself with adventure aplenty as she plots her new life spent dodging her brothers and searching for her mother, who has run away from a life of the expectations of London society.

APA Reference of the book: Springer, N. (2006). The case of the missing marquess: an Enola Holmes mystery. New York: Puffin.

Impressions: This was a book I happily consumed in a few short hours and actually went back to the library to get the rest in the series. Having read a few of the original Holmes mysteries, I found this take on "the great detective" as he is often referred to in the story, to be interesting. In the book, Sherlock is shown as being the reasonable brother, whereas Mycroft is determined that he knows best and tries to force Enola into a life she does not want, to which she responds by running away. Because of this, we see a more sympathetic version of Sherlock than is presented in the original stories, but he is still an interesting character. As for Enola herself, she takes after her younger brother, having both his skills of deduction and a penchant for getting into trouble. She is a strong female character who uses her knowledge of the world gained from free access to her mother's library as a child and her knowledge of society to maneuver through difficult situations and solve whatever mystery is at hand. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest in the series.

Professional Review: "Gr. 5-8. Springer, author of the popular Tales of Rowen Hood series featuring Robin Hood's daughter, mines the classics once more, and finds Sherlock Holmes' 14-year-old sister, Enola Holmes, who also has keen powers of observation. Enola lives alone with her mother on the family estate. Mrs. Holmes has always been a free spirit, but Enola is shocked when, on her birthday, her mother goes missing. Sherlock and Mycroft, , Enola's long-absent, much-older brothers, arrive and assure her they will look into the disappearance; she will be sent away to boarding school. Determined to avoid that fate, and anxious to find her mother on her own, Enola leaves for London, where she thinks her mother may be--a plan as shaky as the bicycle she sets off on. Along the way, she becomes enmeshed in another disappearance, the case of a young marquess, who seems to have been kidnapped, and in true Holmes fashion, Enola uses her powers of deduction to figure out his fate. This is a terrific package. Springer not only provides two fine mysteries (complete with clues and ciphers to solve), breathtaking adventure, and key-eyed description but she also offers a worthy heroine, who will be the center of a new series (the cover proclaims this "An Enola Holmes Mystery.") Enola is a high-spirited girl, just the right mix of nascent nineteenth-century feminist and awkward teen, with a first person voice that's fun to hear. Reader can move from this to Phillip Pullman's Victorian thrillers, the Sally Lockhart trilogy, which begins with Ruby in the Smoke (1987)."

Cooper, I. (2005). [Review of The case of the missing marquess: an Enola Holmes mystery by Nancy Springer]. Booklist, 102(7), p. 42. Retrieved from: http://www.booklistonline.com/

Library uses: This book could be included in a display of mystery novels. It could also be compared in a lesson to the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries to see how the characters of Sherlock and Mycroft are portrayed in comparison to original books and even in current television and movies (i.e. the BBC series Sherlock, and the Sherlock Holmes movies starring Robert Downey Jr.)