Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

 

This is one of those series of books that I've seen around so many times over the years, and never picked it up. The new show on Netflix (September 23) had me deciding it was finally time to read the first in the series and see just what it was about. I had another one of those "why did I wait so long?!" moments when I finished it this morning. 

Enola Holmes is the younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. Years after her brothers were born, their mother produced Enola, embarrassingly at an older age when respectable women didn't have babies. Enola is now fourteen, and it's her birthday. 

She lives with her mother at the family estate, and she's had a pretty free life since her father died years ago, and her brothers have not visited in all that time. She's smart, quick, and loves to ride her bike. She's corset free, and happy about it. Until the morning of her birthday, when her mother steps out the door and never returns. 

Enola doesn't understand why her mother would leave her, and her confusion and sense of loss are a bit heartbreaking. However, she telegrams her brothers, and they arrive. Shocked by Enola's appearance (she looks a bit like a wild child) they quickly realize all the money Mycroft has been sending for years for clothes, dance lessons, horses and gardeners has been squirreled away by their mother. Enola is in need of a boarding school and proper clothes for a proper young lady STAT. 

Enola isn't having any of that, of course. On the day she is sent away to boarding school, she runs away, having planned to reach London to look for her mother. She's   no slouch in planning and observing, and using codes to figure things out. But, she is only fourteen, and some things go awry in her plan. Can she save herself, or will she be forced to contact Sherlock for help?

I know the movie on Netflix will have a bigger story than the first novel, but I watched the movie clip and it certainly looks like Millie Bobby Brown embodies all the best of Enola Holmes. I can't wait to watch it. And who can say no to Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes?! I certainly can't, nor do I want to. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from this first novel, and I am happy to say it was a delightful read. Not at all what I expected plot wise, so I am eager to read the rest in the series and see where Enola's adventures take her.  This series says middle school, and I would say any child who loves mysteries and is a good reader would enjoy these. Very well written; full of adventure, observation, and putting clues together.

Rating: 4/6 for a great start to a mystery series for kids that was first published in 2011. The series is still in print, and will find new readers as the Netflix movie comes out in the U.S. September 23rd. On my way to buy the rest of the series! 

Available in paperback and audio. 

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Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

The Rules of Love and Grammar by Mary Simses

I read Mary Simses' first novel The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop and Cafe last year, and while I enjoyed it, wasn't wowed by it.  In her second novel, Mary Simses does a much better job keeping my interest, but I still have some issues with characters and plot.  

Grace Hammond is a 33 year old New Yorker who comes home to Dorset, Connecticut one summer to stay with her parents while the ceiling in her apartment is repaired after a water leak in the apartment above hers.  She's also just broken up with her boyfriend, and lost her job.  A whole lot of misfortune all at once.  Fleeing to her parent's house gives her time to lick her wounds and figure out what she's going to do when she returns to New York.  

That summer, director Peter Brooks is in Dorset filming a movie that is semi-autobiographical.  He's a son of Dorset, and people are very excited to have a famous director and his stars descend on the town.  Grace and Peter were friends as teens, and were thisclose to a romance when Grace's older sister Renny was killed in a car accident at 18 and Peter's family moved away to Arizona just a few weeks after that.  Grace's longing to recapture that happiness with Peter comes roaring back when her friend Cluny tells Grace he's back in town.  

Grace has time to burn, so she's helping her parents get the house and yard ready for her father's 65th birthday party.  She finds Renny's old Schwinn in the garage, and decides to have it restored as a way to honor her sister and help Grace lay down the guilt she feels over her sister's death.  Mitch, a ruggedly handsome man, helps his father at the bike shop during the summer months. Grace and Mitch have a bit of an antagonistic relationship, and her focus is all on Peter.  The star of the movie, Sean, has a run in with Grace and seems to be smitten with her.  Gee, three men!  How will Grace ever decide where her heart lies?

Underlying all of the summer romance possibilities is Grace's floundering over her career and life in general.  She's haunted by Renny's death, and coming back home seems to have brought it to the forefront of her mind.  She feels like her parents always preferred Renny, and doesn't believe she has any talent.  I have to say this part of the novel seemed wrong, somehow.  It's been 18 years since Renny has died; I am a bit puzzled that Grace is still struggling over how she thinks her parents really feel about her. They've been nothing but encouraging, but I feel like her behavior belongs to someone much younger.  I could see this being a stronger plot if Grace was in her mid-twenties, not her early thirties.  She seems to bounce from one potential romance to another without any kind of real focus, and when the big talk happens with her parents, I felt like it was long overdue and made the ending a bit rushed.  I do, however, like the ending, and that we are left with a satisfying conclusion, but not a neat ending tied up in a bow.  There's room for perhaps another story, and I'd be happy to read it.  

Rating:  6/10 for a novel that was enjoyable and quick read.  The town of Dorset came alive, and sounds like a place I'd like to call home.  Grace seemed a bit immature for her age, and the main plot line would have worked better if she'd been in her twenties.  But overall,  a novel that would be a good choice for Moms, Grandmas, and those who like contemporary women's fiction.  

Available in hardcover, and e-book.

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The Rules of Love and Grammar by Mary Simses