Book Summary:
Enola is a very sensitive girl. As the youngest of the family, she is desperate to find her mom, who disappeared on her birthday. She finds clues in some of the gifts her mother left her, and as a last result, she had to call her brothers to come in and help. Her brothers are Sherlock Holmes and Mycroft. Enola figures if they can investigate then she should have the same genes to do the same. She takes off and makes it to London, where she is kidnapped and must find a way to escape. She ends up on the same boat as the Missing Marquess. They need to find a plan to get away. Enola and the Marquess do manage to escape and she sent the Marquess in the direction of her brother, Sherlock, who helped to arrest the criminal. Enola grows up, gets a job and helps homeless people in need. She still puts encrypted messages in papers for her mother to read, and then to send her replies. Enola knows her mother is happy and enjoying life.
APA Reference of Book:
Springer, N. (2006). An Enola Holmes Mystery #1: The case of the missing Marquess.. New York, NY: Philomel Books.
Impressions: The book was good, slow in some places, not real clear in description to that a reader could get a good idea on what the author was wanting you to see. The book was interesting, had a great twist on the Sherlock Holmes theme, and Elona is a great character. I like the fact that her mother hit clues in her gifts and then sent encrypted messages to help her figure out her life( Enola) and to help her find peace.
Professional Review:
There is almost nothing ordinary about 14-year-old Enola Holmes. (She is painfully aware that her name spelled backwards is "Alone.") The year is 1880; the place, England. Enola lives on a lovely estate, but there is nothing upper crust about her. Even more unusual is the fact that her much older brothers are the famous detectives Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. And not to mention the fact that Enola's mother has gone missing on the very day of Enola's birthday.
Enola's mother has left her several birthday gifts: a drawing kit, a book about the hidden meanings of flowers, and a cipher book. Enola loves the presents but hates that her mother has disappeared. She wires her brothers to come and help find their mother. Mycroft and Sherlock arrive, only to discover that their mother has been getting money from Mycroft, who handles the estate, under false pretensions. But there's no sign of the missing money or the missing mother. Then, to Enola's shock and horror, Mycroft insists that Enola go away to a snooty girls finishing school.
No way! Enola decides to leave home to find her mother herself. But before she departs, she uncovers a hidden message from her mother, written in the language of flowers, plus a message written in cipher. Acting on the clues, she goes through her mother's beautiful drawings of flowers and finds all the money hidden inside the picture frames. The money was left for her! She puts on a bustle to hide the money in and disguises herself as a widow, wearing her mother's black dress and hat.
After escaping by bicycle and on foot, Enola happens to arrive in the village where the young Marquess of Basilwether has just been kidnapped. Or has he? Enola finds clues as to what really happened and also meets Sherlock's famous associate, Inspector Lestrade. She goes to London, narrowly escaping from Lestrade, only to be kidnapped herself. And, by a not-so-strange coincidence, she finds herself captive on a boat with the Marquess himself!
How do Nola and the Marquess escape from the vicious Victorian villains who kidnapped them? Does Enola ever find her mother? Is Sherlock Holmes able to locate his missing sister? Does Enola end up in a horrid finishing school? All will be revealed in THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS. No young reader will want to miss it!
Reviewed by Robert Oksner on February 16, 2006
Oskner, R. (2006, February 16). The Case of the Missing Marques. . Retrieved , from http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/the-case-of-the-missing-marquess-an-enola-holmes-mystery
Library Use:
This is just one of those books that is good to read and discuss, how you would have changed a few things in the story. Could you come up with more encrypt messages, using Enola's or can you come up with your own?
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