The Case of the Missing Marquess

Springer, N. (2006). The case of the missing marquess. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

"The only light struggles from the few gas street-lamps that remain unbroken, and from pots of fire suspended above the cobblestones, tended by old men selling boiled sea snails outside the public houses.  The stranger, all dressed in black from her hat to her boots, slips from shadow to shadow as if she were no more than a shadow herself, unnoticed.  Where she comes from, it is unthinkable for a female to venture out at night without the escort of a husband, father, or brother.  But she will do whatever she must in order to search for the one who is lost.”  This first paragraph of Nancy Springer’s novel will lure you into an exciting tale of action and suspense, independence and ingenuity that's infused with the sights, sounds, and sometimes very unpleasant smells of Victorian London.

Do you ever feel like you don’t have freedom?  Do you feel like someone’s always telling you what to do, how to dress, how to act?  That’s exactly how Enola Holmes feels after her feminist, socially progressive mother disappears without explanation on Enola’s 14^th birthday.  A girl who, for her entire life had the freedom to explore and be herself, Enola is suddenly thrust into the care of her much older and very traditionally-minded brothers Mycroft and the world’s only private consulting detective, the famous Sherlock Holmes.  When those men appear, she discovers what life is truly like for a young woman in Victorian England, and her world is turned upside down!  

While her brother Sherlock merely alerts Scotland Yard of his mother’s disappearance then sits back to await the resolution of the case, Enola springs into action.  She devises a plan to embark on a dangerous journey to London to track down her mother, disguising herself alternatively as a grieving widow and a blind woman in order to escape detection and follow the clues left behind in the mysterious birthday gift from her mother.  Along the way, she finds herself involved in the disappearance of twelve-year-old Viscount Tewksbury, Marquess of Basilwether and followed by murderous villains all while trying to hide her true identity and discover her mother’s whereabouts.  

Will she escape her pursuers?  Will she elude the strict control of her brothers?  Will she solve the case of the missing marquess? 

Will she find her mother…? 

You’ll have to read The Case of the Missing Marquess to discover the answers…