An Enola Holmes Mystery (Book #4): The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan

This was a very good book in the series of the Enola Holmes mysteries. Time is taken with Enola's relationship with her famous brother Sherlock Holmes, and her worry about her mother, and we see more closely the difficulties of being on one's own as a child or young person. This and the topic of

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forced marriage and social constraints on women really give a perspective on well-known aspects of life in Historical England from a point of view rarely heard from - that of a girl and a young person. The characters are endearing and there is a compassionate point of view in the writing that is decidedly likable. (And the use of period language makes one want to use words like "decidedly.")

Teachers and librarians can recommend this title to young people, girls, young fans of mysteries, with curiosity about England, and even in displays or curriculum about England during this period of time.

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This fourth installment of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes series brings the series back to its roots as Enola races against the clock to prevent a kindred spirit from being forced into an unwanted marriage.

This is by far my favorite of the Enola Holmes mysteries. The improbable re-appearance of Lady

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Cecily reinforces Enola's empathy and loneliness while giving her an opportunity to bond with her brother. The scene where she helps Sherlock escape from a ha-ha but doesn't trust him enough to shake his hand goes a long way towards explaining their relationship. As Enola comes into her own, her brother is gradually coming to see her as something other than a weak-minded child to be protected. Despite her relative prominence in the series, Lady Cecily actually has very little contact with Enola. While Enola sees enough of herself in the left-handed lady to continually rescue her, she doesn't respect her enough intellectually to actually form a friendship with her. The resolution of the mystery and especially the part her brothers played in it was particularly satisfying.

As always, Nancy Springer completely immerses herself in the culture of the setting. Her characterizations are consistent both with the time period and source material while still offering up exciting new insights. Springer incorporates aspects of day-to-day Victorian life that modern Middle Schoolers will be entirely unfamiliar with while still managing to get the point across. Recommended for grades 5 through 7.

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Listened to Recorded Books Playaway narrated by Katherine Kellgren. This was my second favorite of the series after the original book, although the coincidence of Enola coming across the ha-ha man's house and then having him involved in the mystery was a little hard to swallow. I love the

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progression of Enola's relationships with Sherlock and Cecily both and hope they come to a solid conclusion when the series ends. Kellgren as usual does a fantastic job of distinguishing each character with appropriate accents and tone of voice while conveying all the considerable wit and emotion of Springer's text. Only two left in the series so I suppose I better take my time getting to them as I'll be sad to see the last of Enola.

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I think it's brilliant having parts of the mystery hinge on topics that were in women's domain (the fan codes) - that way, Sherlock Holmes is not given short shrift on solving things... he is simply acting as a gentleman of his time period, and wouldn't know things only taught to girls/ladies. It

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would also be unseemly, in a way, for him to try finding out about such ideas.

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The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer is the fourth of the Enola Holmes series. It's a follow up to The Case of Left-Handed Lady.

Enola while on an investigation happens to meet up with Lady Cecily. With the help of a cheap pink fan, Cecily begs Enola for help. It doesn't take her long

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to figure out that Lady Cecily is being kept prisoner somewhere and needs her help again.

The color pink in a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, homage or spinoff is usually a nod to the first of the stories, A Study in Scarlet. Now usually these mysteries focus on the murder with the scrawled message, RACHE. Springer, though, takes the other half of the original as her inspiration — keeping her focus on feminism in the Victorian era — namely the forced marriage of a young woman.

On the personal front, Enola seems to be gaining ground with Sherlock. There's a great scene where Enola has to come to her brother's rescue. While he doesn't completely capitulate to her demands, he does silently agree to be her ally.

It's a short enjoyable edition to the series. It has the usual fun stuff of cyphers, disguises, and secret forms of communication.

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Does it get any better than this? I hadn't read the summary before reading Pink Fan so I was more than pleasantly surprised when I realised (very quickly, the plot starts within the first few pages) that the mystery was deeply connected to a previous book. I enjoy continuity and I enjoy being able

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to draw upon what I've learned in previous books. The highlight of this installment, however, was when Sherlock and Enola crossed paths. The scene was so good I read it twice. I had no idea this was coming and I found the relationship between the two to be most touching, despite Mycroft and Sherlock's sexism which is nicely debunked once again here.
A complete joy that reinforces my love for Enola.

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While fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes endeavors to save her friend Lady Cecily Alistair from an unwelcome arranged marriage, she meets with some assistance from her older brother, Sherlock, and interference by the eldest, Mycroft.

Loving this series.

Secure in the knowledge that Sherlock and Mycroft haven't tracked down her Ivy Meshle identity yet, Enola works on a few of the fictitious Dr. Ragostin's cases, the latest one involving a missing war memento. She hasn't been putting too much effort into it, so when she accidentally encounters Lady

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Cecily (from The Case of the Left-Handed Lady) her attention is easily snagged. It's clear that something is wrong, but Cecily only has time for a brief coded communication using a pink paper fan before two ladies who seem to have some control over her lead her away. She manages to leave the fan behind, so it's up to Enola to use it to figure out what's going on and how she can help.

My feelings about this series have been relatively lukewarm. There are things about it that I really enjoy. Enola is easy to root for and generally pretty level-headed, but she still has moments when she's physically and emotionally overwhelmed and I'm reminded that she's only 14. She desperately wants unambiguous and warm familial affection, but it seems unlikely she'll ever get it from her mother. Sherlock's a possibility - he's warming up to this little sister he'd never previously spared a thought for - but he still mostly shares Mycroft's more traditional ideas about how to be a good brother to a 14-year-old sister.

Unfortunately, the mysteries have generally been a bit weak, and Springer's Sherlock has consistently been useless and in no way believable as the Sherlock Holmes. If Enola had been less appealing and if the books hadn't been such quick reads, I might not have made it this far. Fortunately, this book turned out to be the best one in the series thus far.

True, Sherlock continued to be pretty useless, but this time he managed to successfully do a little investigating without Enola completely beating him to it (although he still practically had to be guided through the rest). And I finally got some more of the on-page Holmes family scenes I'd been wanting, even though it was annoying that Sherlock still hadn't unbent enough to do what was necessary to fully win Enola's trust. I'm really starting to get tired of his habit of dismissing or overlooking women or feminine things, even after everything he's seen Enola and other women in the series do.

The mystery was pretty good. Enola viewed Cecily as a kindred spirit, which added a nice emotional layer to the story, and the investigation was interesting and seemed logically done, although Enola's "plan" near the end definitely wasn't the best.

Here's hoping the last two books are at least as enjoyable as this one. I doubt Springer's Sherlock will suddenly morph into a believable Sherlock Holmes, but as long as he isn't as dense as he was in The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, I can deal with him if that's what it takes to get the "gradually warmer and more affectionate big brother Sherlock" scenes I've been wanting.

Extras:

A very brief excerpt from the next book in the series.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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