Enola Holmes

Enola Holmes is the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes and Mycroft Holmes, and the protagonist of a series of children's detective novels by Nancy Springer.

Enola has been raised by her mother in seclusion in the countryside, taught to be independent and a feminist Suffragist. However, after her mother vanishes into thin air on Enola's fourteenth birthday, the girl's much older brothers come to collect her. Neither has much interest in raising a girl, so they agree the best route is to send her to a boarding school where she can learn to be a "proper young lady."

But Enola has other ideas. Drawing off of her mother's constant reassurance, "Enola, you will do very well on your own" and a healthy sum of money that her mother had squirreled away in the house, Enola gives her brothers the slip and sets out to seek her fortune in London, and on the way, she discovers her vocation as a "Scientific Perditorian," in other words, a solver of crimes through analysis, disguise, sheer grit, and the occasional well-placed dagger.

The series is COMPLETED as of 2010, and the six books are as follows:


 * 1) The Case of the Missing Marquess (2006)
 * 2) The Case of the Left-Handed Lady (2007)
 * 3) The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets (2008)
 * 4) The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan (2008)
 * 5) The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline (2009)
 * 6) The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye (2010)

This series provides examples of:

 * A Sinister Clue: The fact that Lady Cecily is left-handed is very important to figuring out her kidnapping.
 * Aloof Big Brother: Two, actually; before they reunite to discuss their mother's disappearance, Enola only met Sherlock and Mycroft once at their father's funeral.
 * Arranged Marriage: In The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, a friend of Enola is being forced to be married and Enola and Sherlock find themselves joining forces to prevent it.
 * Bad Habits: One of Enola's favourite early disguises is as a mute nun which allows her to do some good deeds and was even good enough to fool Sherlock until he found out about it.
 * Born Detective: Enola is a Holmes and sibling to Mycroft and Sherlock, enough said.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing: In Missing Marquess before she'd implented the dagger broach, Enola used the steel ribs of her corset to cut her bonds.
 * Embarrassing Rescue: Enola rescuing Sherlock after he falls into a ha ha in The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan. He isn't completely ungrateful, but he's definitely embarrassed and annoyed to be rescued by the younger sister who's been evading him for so long.
 * Enemy Mine: In The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, Enola and Sherlock turn out to be Working the Same Case and exchange information that helps Enola figure out where Lady Cecily is being held.
 * Flower Motifs: Enola and her mother communicate through the papers using floriography, and it's obviously a big theme in "The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets."
 * Heroic Self Deprecation: Enola raised in the Victorian Era's social assumptions, initially keeps beating herself up as ugly and stupid because of that kind of social poison. However, she realizes eventually that she is most definitely the opposite of both.
 * Historical Domain Character: In The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, the great nurse Florence Nightingale figures prominently in Enola's case and she also sets Sherlock straight of why Enola is being so stubborn about refusing to go to boarding school.
 * Huge Schoolgirl: Enola is very tall for her age, and has no trouble passing for an adult woman.
 * Inspector Javert: Her brothers, but Sherlock slowly grows so impressed at Enola's talents at being a detective that he eventually helps Enola prove herself to Mycroft that she's just fine being herself.
 * Kid Detective: Enola is only 14 and has proven a superb private detective.
 * Landlady: Mrs. Tupper, an almost completely deaf woman who was initially easy for Enola to sneak past, but eventually realizes that this girl is no ordinary young woman when she is caught in her various disguises. Eventually, Mrs. Tupper is the focus of a kidnapping case Enola investigates.
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Both Enola (see Meaningful Name) and Lady Cecilia.
 * Master of Disguise: Anyone who can fool Sherlock and Mycroft like she can when she is practically in front of them is definitely this.
 * Meaningful Name: Enola's (think backwards).
 * Missing Mom: The Holmes mother's disappearance starts the series and her departure breaks Enola's heart. That changes when Enola realizes that her mother has left numerous coded messages and resources that would allow her to escape herself. Afterward, they keep in contact through coded personals ads, although that's dangerous with her brothers learning her code and trying to trap her.
 * Myth Arc: The Stern Chase of Enola eluding her brothers until they grow to realize that she is their equal who deserves their respect and her freedom.
 * Narrative Profanity Filter
 * Of Corset Hurts: Avoiding being forced to wear that getup is an issue that caused her to run, but she found that they are good for her disguises and as a form of armor
 * Pettanko: Enola uses the "figure enhancers" provided for her for other purposes.
 * Plucky Girl: Running away from home with a definite plan, set yourself up for business as a detective through a proxy identity no one needs to see to believe in and all the while, elude Sherlock Holmes continually? Enola darn well has to be one.
 * Private Detective: Enola prides herself at being "The world's first Scientific Perditorian," albiet through proxy, and hopes to drop the façade and operate openly as one in her adulthood.
 * Promotion to Parent: Both Mycroft and Sherlock take matters into their own hands when their mother disappears, though in rather different ways - Mycroft just wants to dump Enola in a boarding school and doesn't care all that much about her after she disappears while Sherlock drives himself sick trying to find Enola in London and bring her to safety. It helps that the two of them actually are old enough to be Enola's parents (both of them being at least 20 years older than her).
 * Refuge in Audacity: Enola in one book hides temporarily in the one place Sherlock would never expect her to be, 221b Baker street!
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: In the final book, Sherlock finds Enola in her best dressed persona and notes that considering how well she looks, it's obvious the finishing school they wanted to pack her off to is unnecessary.
 * She Is All Grown Up: At the end of the series, Sherlock notes that in the year Enola has been on her own and dodging him, Enola has grown from a seemingly naive 14 year old girl into an extraordinarily capable 15 year old young woman and professional detective who is a match for himself.
 * Snooping Little Kid: Sometimes Enola has had to rely on a lot of dangerous legwork in her cases.
 * So Proud of You: When a man so arrogantly self assured in his profession like Sherlock calls his sister his "competition," then you'll know that is the supreme shop compliment from him.
 * Stern Chase: Enola is continually on the run from her brothers who cannot understand why she is avoiding them.
 * Sweet Polly Oliver: Defied. Enola decides in book one that she is never going to use that pennydreadful trick.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight, as Springer's earlier series, The Tales of Rowan Hood, was guilty of this multiple times. It was the main ploy used by Rowan, Robin Hood's daughter, when she ran away to Sherwood Forest.
 * Tear Jerker: The Holmes' mother's final message.
 * Values Dissonance: In-universe; Enola, having been raised by a suffragist mother and all too aware of what being a "lady" was like during her time, wants to live her own way. Her brothers think this as nothing short of outrageous and believe that Enola must conform.
 * Victorian London: Enola's new home despite her brothers' best efforts to capture her.
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment: Enola learns that she can hold a lot of things in her shirt, which also fills out her chest for disguise purposes. A major thing in there is a dagger, with its pommel being disguised as a brooch.
 * Working the Same Case: The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan.
 * You Go Girl: Despite her brothers' best efforts to recapture her, Enola is able to stay a step ahead of her super smart brothers, solve numerous missing persons cases as a professional detective and develop a decent income from her income property at the same time. Heck, she's even been able to impress Sherlock at how good she is at his profession, a feat only Irene Adler has ever been able to do.