Enola Homes and the Case of the Missing Marquess - Nancy Springer - 2 Stars

[Jemima]

PBT November TBR Challenge:

The Case of the Missing Marquess: Enola Holmes 1 by Nancy Springer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Enola Holmes is the much younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. When her mother walks out the door, never to return, 14 year old Enola sends to her estranged brothers for help in finding her. She soon discovers that her mother may have left home of her own accord for reasons that are becoming more clear to her. She purposes to discover the truth for herself and to follow the clues her mother left to her disappearance.

This was a strange read. Obviously aimed at the younger teenage reader, I found it an odd mix of gritty historical reality and mythical, fantastical pantomime. The characters were not particularly appealing, the plot badly paced. The beginning of the book up to the halfway mark had the feeling of a completely differently paced and traditionally styled mystery read for a young teen, the second half was fast paced, abrupt and difficult to reconcile to the first. As this was written as the first in a series, I’m assuming the second half will be more typical of the mystery themed story that Enola will be participating in each time-possibly future books will then be better paced, but I’m not sure I care enough for any of the characters to try and read further into the series.



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