The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan

Secure in the knowledge that Sherlock and Mycroft haven't tracked down her Ivy Meshle identity yet, Enola works on a few of the fictitious Dr. Ragostin's cases, the latest one involving a missing war memento. She hasn't been putting too much effort into it, so when she accidentally encounters Lady Cecily (from The Case of the Left-Handed Lady) her attention is easily snagged. It's clear that something is wrong, but Cecily only has time for a brief coded communication using a pink paper fan before two ladies who seem to have some control over her lead her away. She manages to leave the fan behind, so it's up to Enola to use it to figure out what's going on and how she can help.

My feelings about this series have been relatively lukewarm. There are things about it that I really enjoy. Enola is easy to root for and generally pretty level-headed, but she still has moments when she's physically and emotionally overwhelmed and I'm reminded that she's only 14. She desperately wants unambiguous and warm familial affection, but it seems unlikely she'll ever get it from her mother. Sherlock's a possibility - he's warming up to this little sister he'd never previously spared a thought for - but he still mostly shares Mycroft's more traditional ideas about how to be a good brother to a 14-year-old sister.

Unfortunately, the mysteries have generally been a bit weak, and Springer's Sherlock has consistently been useless and in no way believable as the Sherlock Holmes. If Enola had been less appealing and if the books hadn't been such quick reads, I might not have made it this far. Fortunately, this book turned out to be the best one in the series thus far.

True, Sherlock continued to be pretty useless, but this time he managed to successfully do a little investigating without Enola completely beating him to it (although he still practically had to be guided through the rest). And I finally got some more of the on-page Holmes family scenes I'd been wanting, even though it was annoying that Sherlock still hadn't unbent enough to do what was necessary to fully win Enola's trust. I'm really starting to get tired of his habit of dismissing or overlooking women or feminine things, even after everything he's seen Enola and other women in the series do.

The mystery was pretty good. Enola viewed Cecily as a kindred spirit, which added a nice emotional layer to the story, and the investigation was interesting and seemed logically done, although Enola's "plan" near the end definitely wasn't the best.

Here's hoping the last two books are at least as enjoyable as this one. I doubt Springer's Sherlock will suddenly morph into a believable Sherlock Holmes, but as long as he isn't as dense as he was in The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, I can deal with him if that's what it takes to get the "gradually warmer and more affectionate big brother Sherlock" scenes I've been wanting.

Extras:

A very brief excerpt from the next book in the series.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Great series about Sherlock Holmes' younger sister, who is looking for her disappeared mother and pretending she is older than 14 and living by herself in London AND solving mysteries while trying to avoid getting caught by her brothers. ( )

Loving this series. ( )

Enola stumbles onto Lady Cecily in a public lady's restroom and sees that she is in distress. Lady Cecily uses her pink fan - which doesn't at all match her trendy outfit - to send Enola a plea for help. However, before Enola can follow her, she runs into her brother Mycroft - literally, runs into him. She manages to escape him but loses track of Lady Cecily and is at a loss as to how to find her and help her.

Lady Cecily has managed to leave the fan with Enola who deciphers a clue written in code and with invisible ink but the clue is cut short and doesn't give Enola enough information. However, the fan itself does once she tracks down the source of it.

While doing investigating, she stumbles on and rescues her brother Sherlock who has been put on the case by Lady Cecily's mother. They agree to a truce: she'll help him if he doesn't try to catch her and send her to a proper boarding school to be turned into a proper young lady.

The story was exciting and filled with codes, disguises, and various villains who want to force Lady Cecily into an arranged marriage. It takes Sherlock and Enola working together to rescue Cecily. I liked that Sherlock seems to be on her side at the end of this one rather than Mycroft's. I also liked that she is coming to betters terms with the way her mother abandoned her.

Fans of the series won't want to miss this episode but it wouldn't be a good place for a beginner to enter the series. I would recommend starting at the beginning to really get to know Enola and follow her adventures. ( )

Enola was raised a idiosyncratically in an isolated manor house by her mother. When her mother decamped to live her own life, Enola discovered that she too could lead an independent life--but she nevertheless misses her mother terribly. Their only communication since her mother's disappearance is through cyphered messages left in newspapers, but this is enough to buck up Enola's spirits and confidence. Under a variety of disguises she sets herself up as a finder of lost persons. Her latest case: what has become of the aristocratic girl she saved in [b:The case of the Left-handed lady|606926|The Case of the Left-Handed Lady (Enola Holmes Mysteries, #2)|Nancy Springer|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348308364s/606926.jpg|593458]? Her only clue: a cheap pink fan the girl dropped while asking her for help in the rudimentary language of the fan.

It is great fun to watch Enola slip in and out of her variety of guises, and view London from distinctly different points of view. Her complicated feelings for her mother and brothers are particularly well developed in this volume. It is, alas, her brothers that pose the one sticking point I have with the series: both seem rather less astute than usual, and Mycroft in particular is both much less intelligent and far more talkative and active than I'm used to. ( )