The case of the missing marquess by Nancy Springer
An Enola Holmes mystery. Allen and Unwin, 2018. ISBN
9781760637385
(Age: 10-14) Highly recommended. Themes: Mystery. Sherlock Holmes.
Missing persons. Enola Holmes' mother has disappeared on her
birthday without word or clue. Her much older brothers (Mycroft and
Sherlock Holmes) attempt to ascertain where she has gone.
They put all their considerable resources to find her but cannot
solve the mystery between them. Sherlock Holmes returns to London to
continue his search, but his older brother decides that the solution
for Enola is to place her into a ladies' boarding school and all
that goes with this in the Victorian era. Enola is not pleased with
this solution and plans to escape to make her own life and find her
mother in her own way.
Enola travels to London where she puts her skills of deduction to
work to attempt to solve the mystery of her mother's disappearance
and, along the way, solves the mystery of the kidnapping of the
young Viscount Tewksbury. The pace of the story speeds up as she
confronts murderous villains and then continues to elude her shrewd
(and famous) older brothers.
Enola's independent spirit doesn't fit into the Victorian era in
which she has been born and she develops into an independent
character fulfilling dreams and offering her deductive services to
others. The novel supports the discussion of women's rights and the
Suffragette movement in a similar way to the story in Mary
Poppins, not a major part of the story but enough to spur the
reader to find out more about the era. The book is written in first
person which adds to the tension and excitement. The description of
London in the 1880's is convincing and paints a picture of the
poverty of the ordinary people who lived in the streets at this
time.
This is a great start to an interesting series of books that will
appeal to a wide variety of children aged 10-14. There are plans in
place to make the books into a movie series.
Highly recommended for Upper Primary.
Gabrielle Anderson