nancy springer the case of the missing marquess

Although Springer supplies a few messages to decode (and shows how to decode them), she spends far more time discussing Enola's family affairs and running her through London's seedier streets and docks than establishing her powers of observation or logic, making this more a tepid Victorian family tale than a mystery. Enola begins her investigation with encrypted messages in a book left to her by her mother that lead her to a considerable stash of money, but as soon as she ditches her brothers and takes off on her own for London, she gets sidetracked by another mystery, the disappearance of twelve-year-old Viscount Tewksbury Basilwether (who is also the titular marquess), that puts her life in peril. Fourteen-year-old Enola, 'born indecently late in Mother's life, a scandal, a burden, you see,' attempts some detecting on her own when her mother goes missing and her elder brothers Sherlock and Mycroft plan to send her off to boarding school and write their mother off as a lost case.

(Feb.Since the great fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes seems to have, at the pen of adult author Laurie King, improbably acquired a wife, it's not much of a stretch to find that his family now comprises a younger sister as well. Readers will look forward to hearing this heroine's unique voice again soon. Enola shows herself to be an intelligent, rational, resourceful and brave protagonist. Along the way, Enola becomes involved in the search for the missing Viscount Tewksbury, Marquess of Basilwether, and hair-raising adventures ensue. And always I had counted upon setting things right after I was grown. Readers will find the teen's internal monologue quite entertaining ('Always I felt to blame for-for whatever, for breathing-because I had been born indecently late in Mother's life. Her mother has left behind a little book of ciphers, so the 14-year-old disguises herself and heads to London, where she hopes to outwit her brothers and find her mother.

But Enola ('which, backwards, spells ' alone After Enola's mother disappears, her older brother, Sherlock (yes, that one), and oldest brother, Mycroft, whom she has not seen in 10 years, seem bent on forcing her into a steel-ribbed corset and sending her off to boarding school. ) proves that she is as comfortable in England's late 19th century as she was in Sherwood Forest and Camelot with this debut title in the Enola Holmes Mystery series.

Nancy springer the case of the missing marquess