Even though fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes has grown up in Victorian England, where submission to the male patriachy and painful whalebone corsets are the norm, she is not your typical Victorian shrinking violet. For one thing, her older brother is the famed sleuth Sherlock Holmes, and Enola is determined to follow in his footsteps, even if she has to run away from home to do it! Using secret funds left to her by her eccentric mother, Enola starts her own detective agency in London, which she operates using a combination of subterfuge, a variety of disguises, and her own good common sense. Her first official case comes courtesy of a grieving upper-class mother, who’s well-heeled daughter seems to have run away with a scheming merchant’s son. But nothing is quite what it seems to be, and soon Enola is knee-deep in a conspiracy that includes brainwashing, kidnapping, and a garrote-(a nasty weapon made of wire and wood, used to strangle unsuspecting victims from behind) wielding villain who makes Jack the Ripper seem like a pussycat! She’s also busy staying one step ahead of her relentless brother, who won’t be happy until Enola has been found and safely ensconced in a respectable, if incredibly tedious, boarding school. This second volume in the highly entertaining Enola Holmes series is one of the best mysteries I’ve read in a good long while. Enola is plucky and smart, and though she sometimes seems like a twenty-first century girl tooling around in a nineteenth century world, her ocassional bouts of insecurity keep her all-too real. Don’t be fooled by the small format and somewhat young cover–this is one read that is grittier than it looks. If you end up loving Enola as much as I do, make sure you investigate her first adventure, The Case of the Missing Marquess.
Would reading the first one make the second one easier to understand? Or does the order not matter at all….
And btw. thanks for this website. it’s amazingly great and helpful. How many books do u usually read in a week? Just curious. you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.
Have a nice day.
Hi Kathy,
no, you can read either one first, although the first title does contain some more background info.
I’m glad you like the website. I try to read a couple books a week, and usually have a few going at one time. Thanks for your interest, and I hope you’ll visit often and post your thoughts on what you’ve read!
i’m reading the book!! its great!!
i lost my book, what is the sales clerks name, and whats his fathers name? And who exactly would the suspects be?
i looked up garrote on wiki and i sorta know what it is but, does it have any specific meaning in this story?