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Sort of forgot I'd read this til I started watching the movie on Netflix the other night. Not bad, but if it was catering to my tastes there would be more crossdressing.

On the one hand, I really enjoy how Springer brings Victorian London alive -- how cool to spend some time learning about Rudyard Kipling as a phenomenon, the terrors of rabies before treatment, the flower vendors of the city and how they lived, the oddity of people dressing up as Oscar Wilde. It's nice to see Enola and Sherlock's relationship growing. I enjoyed Enola's bloody-minded response to Ruddy's behavior. I loved the women's club and how that works as a place of refuge for Enola. On the other hand, this was a little slow moving and more convoluted than it needed to be. Sometimes I really enjoy this, but not at present -- I may be outgrowing Enola, for all I have very much enjoyed the series until now.

Advanced Readers' Copy provided by Edelweiss.

This is book 7 of the Enola Holmes Mysteries series.
Enola is a precocious and intelligent girl who cringes at the typical expectations of women in her social status. Enola Holmes doesn’t like living in the secluded mansion after her mother leaves on her 14th birthday. Enola is the much younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Her name spelled backwards is “alone” which is how she prefers to live to avoid boarding school. She is just as unconventional as her mother not wanting to succumb to the Victorian traditions. Not wanting to be sent to boarding school, she slips out and finds clever ways to disguise herself. Enola finds unique ways of taking care of herself with her many disguises which allows her to help solve mysteries for people. She often finds herself involved in the same cases as her brother Sherlock.

In 1889, Dr Watson seeks Enola's assistance when Sherlock becomes depressed, and lacking interest in working his cases. When a woman arrives for help from Sherlock, Enola meets with Miss Letitia Glover who is concerned about her twin sister Felicity "Flossie" who married 2 years ago to Earl of Dunhench. He had proposed to 18-year-old Flossie when she worked as a governess to his 2 children. Letitia hasn't heard from her sister until she receives an odd letter from Cadogan Butt Rudcliff II (Caddie). There was a suspicious story about her sister dying suddenly from a virulent disease and he had her body cremated. Enola is soon on the case with the help of Sherlock who determines that the cremated remains are that of an animal and not a person. Well, Enola goes to extreme measures, as usual, to solve the mystery of Letitia's missing sister.

*3.5

'The Case Of The Left-Handed Lady', the second Enola Holmes book, was as much fun as the first book, 'The Case Of The Missing Marquess' and had a few surprises along the way.

The mystery at the heart of the story was improbable in a very Sherlock Holmes sort of way. It made full use of the threatening streets of London's East End, was driven by an evil genius, required more than one party to wear a disguise and drew some of its menace from popular 'dark' topics of the time: anarchism and mesmerism. I enjoyed the imagery and was carried through the plot by Enola's passion for finding out what was going on.

As in the first book, Enola is the main source of energy in the book. I like her drive, her independence and her bravery but it's her loneliness and her anxieties and her anger that make her more than a plot device.

The main surprise in the book was in the way Nancy Springer presented Victorian England. In many books, particularly cosy mysteries written by American authors, Victorian London is sanitised. Yes, it's a dark and dangerous place but in a theme park, soft focus sort of way that doesn't match the social and economic realities of the time. Nancy Springer doesn't do that. She confronts Enola Holmes with the reality of the repressive nature of the class system, the consequences of dire poverty, the suppression of protest and the ubiquity of misogyny. 

I liked the way that these themes were filtered through Enola's eyes. She has no difficulty seeing the misogyny. She was raised by a mother who was a committed suffragist and strongly independent. She's also willing to play a spooky version of Lady Bountiful, walking through the nighttime streets of the East End in winter, doing what she can to prevent people from dying of cold or hunger. Yet, when she listens to a talented orator rousing the workers to anger about their inability to control the hours that they work or what they get paid and use of the police to bludgeon them into submission when they march in protest, she remains true to her class and dismisses the complaints as nonsense.

I'm hooked on this series now, so I went looking for the rest of the books and found that Audible has included a number of them in my membership, which means I could download them for free. They're narrated by Katherine Kellgren, who narrated the 'Her Royal Spyness' series.½

I love Katherine Kellgren and I love Enola Holmes, so how I could not love this? It was pure delight. As a side note, I kind of read this as Enola having a small romantic crush on Cecily. It's certainly not heavily implied, but if I were a young gay girl who liked Victorian literature, I think Enola Holmes would be my favorite.

This book was recently pulled from the Global Reading Challenge because it has the word "prostitute" in it. Sigh. So that prompted me to read it and, boy, are the GRC kids missing out if they don't read it despite it being pulled from the competition. It's a great mystery with excellent characters and lots of fun historical detail.

I didn't even notice the word "prostitute" and I was listening for it (I downloaded the audio book narrated by Katherine Kellgren--she's the best!). Enola specifically says "lady of the night" a few times and then admits she's not sure what the phrase even means. There are some scary parts, but nothing gruesome. I'd recommend it highly to mystery fans. First in a series.

I more so read this book because eleven will be leading this movie series in a few years. I thought it was a fun and quick read. I loved my various plot lines included in this book and also the family dymancics of Enola holmes. It was such a fast read and it kept my attention. I loved the narrator a lot and will def be checking out the other books in the series. I did enjoy how even though every book may have individual case there is also a long term series long case that might become super compelling. I will def. be checking out the movie as well

I more so read this book because eleven will be leading this movie series in a few years. I thought it was a fun and quick read. I loved my various plot lines included in this book and also the family dymancics of Enola holmes. It was such a fast read and it kept my attention. I loved the narrator a lot and will def be checking out the other books in the series. I did enjoy how even though every book may have individual case there is also a long term series long case that might become super compelling. I will def. be checking out the movie as well

Enola meets Rudyard Kipling and it is not a happy event. Some good insights into early rabies treatment and intervention.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this review copy. I’ve enjoyed this series but this was not my favorite.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC. I enjoyed it.

Loved this series.

I am so enjoying this series. Can’t wait for the film series with Millie Bobby Brown.

entertaining, read it in two goes; good humor
might have go with fewer descriptions of clothing

I read “The Case of the Left-Handed Lady” to see if Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes series would improve in the second instalment.

When I came upon »Chapter the First«, though, I had an inkling about how this review would read because just like the ridiculous chapter titles, this is The Case of Even More of the Same that Didn’t Work for Me the First Time Either: Springer’s writing style still resembles that of a middle-grade school teacher who wants to provide material for her pupils.

She still taints the legacy of Holmes; here in a discussion with Mycroft who states…

»The only rational way to reform her into some semblance of decent young womanhood!” interrupts the older brother with asperity. “You, of all people, should see the logic – ”«

To which Springer let’s Sherlock Holmes answer: “Logic is not everything.” and Mycroft rightly replies: “Certainly this is the first time I have ever heard you say so!”

I haven’t read Sherlock Holmes state something as untypical as that either.

In Springer’s universe, though, Mycroft is a slobbering idiot anyway:

»“Nonsense!” At once the older brother puts a stop to such balderdash. “Preposterous! She is a female . Her intellect is inferior, she requires protection . . . there can be no comparison.”«

The story itself is somewhat similar as well - this time it’s the daughter (not son) of an aristocratic family who disappeared and Enola bumbling investigates. Neither the investigation nor its outcome were very interesting to read for me and don’t get me started on “mesmerism”...

Nevertheless, not all was bad in either novel so, if you liked the first instalment in this series, you’re likely to enjoy this one just as much. Or, in my case, not that much.

Again, a generous three stars out of five.

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Thankfully, this was almost as short as it was disappointing: In “The Case of the Missing Marquess” we first witness Enola Holmes’ flight from her older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft. Yes, it’s another case of a contemporary author trying to make a few bucks from the legacy of another…

This uneventful flight takes up an entire half of the novel and it’s just plain boring. The writing is simplistic, the language is old-fashioned but not in the way of Arthur Conan Doyle’s historic works but reimagined by Springer, whose primary research material was colouring books…

For example, Doyle would never (and indeed never did, I checked!) write about a lady’s “unmentionables” (as in undergarments) like Springer does several times. As a matter of fact, authors of the Victorian era, including Conan Doyle, would often employ various techniques to allude to and mask such sensitive subjects rather than explicitly mentioning them. They would use euphemisms, subtext, or veiled references to address these topics indirectly.

They generally relied on subtlety and insinuation rather than direct discussion. Not so Springer: She naïvely discusses all these subjects very directly which would have scandalised the society she tries to emulate.

»Before he could do so, I hoisted my primitive weapon and brought it down with great decision upon his head.«

Even the structure of the novel is disgraced by a miserable attempt at emulating older style: The chapters aren’t simply numbered or called, let’s say, “Chapter Two” as historical precedent would have it. No, it has to be “Chapter the Second” and so on… At “Chapter the Fifteenth” my patience had run thin.

All this feels forced and just plain wrong.

Especially in the beginning, Springer also doesn’t build naturally upon Doyle’s literary legacy but simply info-dumps a lot of well-established facts onto us, e. g. “[Sherlock] suffered from melancholia” - show us, don’t just tell us! - in order to make this feel less like the tired knock-off it actually is.

»Let my brother Sherlock be The World’s Only Private Consulting Detective all he liked; I would be The World’s Only Private Consulting Perditorian.«

The story about the eponymous marquess itself was so simple, I felt like I was reading a children’s book. The entire travesty around Cutter gave me a strong feeling of second-hand embarrassment…

Last and least, I’m having a hard time when people infringe upon the legacy of the great detective:

»I knew things Sherlock Holmes failed even to imagine.«

No, dear Enola, you simply suffer from the same delusion as your creator: That you manage to know enough to create something that doesn’t pale in comparison to the original.

I cannot believe these novels remain as bland as the first one so I’m going to give the second one a try…

A very generous three stars out of five.

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What a wonderful start to a (new to me) Young Adult series! It was a fun read from beginning to end It was an adventure with boats and trains and disguises and scary villains with names like Cutter and Squeaky. It was laced with humour that always made me smile and sometimes made me laugh out loud. There was also an unglamorous understanding of life in England in the 1880s especially what it meant to be a woman or to be poor or, worst of all, to be both.

When I read the publisher's description for this book, I almost passed over it. It could so easily have been yet another Holmes pastiche, made even less palatable by being simplified and sanitised for a YA audience but the reviews I read suggested that this series was something that readers became passionately attached to. Now that I've read it, I've joined the ranks of those who want to consume the whole series.

Why?

That's simple: Enola Holmes

She's a wonderful creation. She feels real. She's bright and brave and full of energy but she's also vulnerable and isolated and burdened with a sense of having brought shame to her family. Her sheltered background means that she has no firsthand experience of life but her reading means that she's stuffed with knowledge for which she lacks context. I liked that she wasn't a superhero. She is realistically a thirteen-year-old-girl trying not to be overwhelmed by a difficult situation.

One of the reasons that The Case Of The Missing Marquess doesn't feel like a pastiche is that Enola Holmes, by virtue of her sex, her age and her eccentric upbringing by her spirited mother, has a fundamentally different view of England in the 1880s than her older brothers Mycroft and Sherlock ALthough she shares their privileged background, she doesn't have their opportunities or expectations. In the eyes of society and her brothers, her most important attributes are that she is young and female and therefore needs to be taught to behave in the ways a young lady is expected to behave. These ways do not include wearing pantaloons while riding a bicycle, running around like a wild thing while neglecting basic grooming or reading material inappropriate for a woman's mind.

Enola's rage against the chattel status of women and girls in England in the 1880s is fierce and wonderful to behold. The way she calmly qnd comptently plots her way around the constraints that her oldest brother, Mycroft, seeks to impose on her made me want to applaud. I also liked that, despite her spirit and her intelligence, she remained a vulnerable young girl who wants the love of her mother and the approval of her brothers and whose ignorance of the dangers of entering the East End of London alone and at night put her at risk.

I was drawn in by Enola's sense of humour even before the action part of the book began, I love the way her insights are framed by humour rather than anger. For example, the way she classifies the not-very-bright son of one of the servants:

"Her grown son, she meant, who did odd jobs around the estate, while Reginald, the somewhat more intelligent collie dog, supervised"

or this on her awareness that she is seen as failing to dress appropriately in public:

"I knew my mother was criticised for failing properly to drape vulgar surfaces such as coal scuttles, the back of her piano, and me."

The plot is a rollick that is mostly there as a means of Enola winning her freedom and growing in confidence as she overcomes the many obstacles and dangers that confront her. That, along the way, she rescues a Marquess even younger than she is and confounds the wishes of both her brothers by disappearing under their noses just adds to the fun.

Now, I'm keen to find out what Enola does next in The Case Of The Left-Handed Lady.

Cute mystery about Sherlock Holmes younger sister. Very quick read and I will certainly be reading the next in the series.

Enola's mother has gone. Her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock are unsympathetic and choose to send her to a boarding school. By solving a cipher left by her mother, Enola is able to locate some money hidden for her use. She sets off in search of Mum. Along the way she is educated in a way of life unknown until now. I thoroughly enjoyed this short book.

Loved since I was in school

When Rudyard Kipling bursts into Enola's office looking for help in finding his missing friend, he is appalled to be confronted by a female. Unwilling to hire a young woman, he turns to Sherlock Holmes. Enola is not one to be overlooked and sets off on her own to learn the truth behind the disappearance of the young American. Can the missing man be rescued from his apparent fate and returned to his friends and loved ones?

Enola is back and she is more than ready to prove she is her brother’s equal! Enola’s studies are interrupted once again by a mystery. Too bad it is not her case. However, that small detail has never stopped Enola before, and she throws herself into the streets of London to find the clues. She goes through an immense wardrobe, dressing as a street waif, a fashionable lady, a student, and as Oscar Wilde.

The mystery itself was interesting, though it did linger a bit long on the horrors of rabies. It introduced an interesting villain, one I am hoping we will see again. There was also a bit of action in the end with Enola engaging in a knife fight.

I can’t decide which one I enjoyed more: reading it for myself or listening to the audiobook. They both were so much fun! The narrator for the audiobook has such a lovely voice to listen to.

I would definitely recommend this to fans of the series and those who enjoy young adult historical fiction. I received a free copy via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own.

In the latest Enola Holmes mystery, Rudyard Kipling bursts into Dr Ragostin’s detective agency. He wants to hire them to find a missing friend. However, when Enola tries to get information from him, he demands to speak to a man. When he learns that she is the one and only detective, he storms out. Later, she learns he has hired her brother, Sherlock, who has always refused to recognize her own detecting skills.

Never one to give up easily and determined to prove herself to both Kipling and Sherlock, she decides to do her own search. While searching for clues, she encounters a rabid dog and hears a rumour it bit a man recently who was trying to scare it off. Could the man be Kipling’s friend and, if so, where is he now?

I first encountered Enola Holmes in a movie and, even though it was clearly aimed at a YA audience, I enjoyed it so much, I decided to check out the books. Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose is the ninth in the series, the fourth I have read, and a very entertaining edition to the series. The story takes Enola and the reader through one of London’s worse slums as well as to a high society gala, to a medical laboratory where Dr Jacob Lister is trying to develop an inoculation against rabies, a disease which, at the time was an automatic death sentence (trigger warning: medical animal experimentation), and into the hands of a deadly cult.

This is a fast easy read and I finished it in one day. Enola is a likeable and strong protagonist, the mystery as well as the historical details are interesting and, despite being, like the movie, aimed at a YA audience, it works for all ages. If, like me, you are a fan of anything Holmes, I recommend this book highly. I received an audio version of this book narrated by Tamaryn Payme who does a wonderful job.

I received an audiobook from Netgalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review

Enola Holmes starts her newest case when a very upset Rudyard Kipling bursts into Dr. Ragostin's office in search of help finding his missing friend Wolcott Balestier. Unwilling to believe that Ragostin was a front Enola used to cover up the fact that she was a woman investigator, Kipling storms out leaving Enola very curious.

She begins her own search for the missing publisher. She needs lots of disguises and goes to lots of different parts of 1890 London. And she finds herself in competition with her brother Sherlock until the two decide to work together on the case.

She soon learns that Balestier disappeared after being bitten by a rabid dog which leads her to do some research on rabies which is not yet a treatable disease in 1890 although Louis Pasteur in France and Jacob Lister in London are working on the problem. Enola's tour of Lister's research facility was a good look into the medical experimentation of the day.

This story was a great addition to the series. I like the historical detail and the way Enola investigates a complicated crime.