The Case of the Gypsy Good-bye Review (Nancy Springer)

Synopsis: As Enola Holmes - much younger sister of Sherlock Holmes - searches for the missing Lady Blanchefleur del Campo, she discovers that Sherlock is just as diligently searching for Enola herself - and this time he really needs to catch her! He is in possession of a most peculiar package, a message from their long-lost mother that only Enola can decipher. Sherlock, along with their fastidious brother Mycroft, must follow Enola into the reeking tunnels of London's dark underbelly as they solve a triple mystery: What had happened to their mother? And to Lady Blanchefleur? And what does either have to do with Mycroft, who holds Enola's future in his ever-so-proper hands?

Review: I have been an avid reader of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes series, and I have enjoyed every single one of them - even if her rendition of Watson and Holmes are not entirely accurate. Enola is a hilarious and quite engaging character - one that is easily liked. She is a bit naive and follows her instincts often without prior planning, but she is able to scrape her way out of predicaments that keep the Reader from getting frustrated with her. I've found Nancy Springer's series to be full of rich Victorian-England facts that - thanks to research on my own part - I feel that I can trust entirely to being accurate.

That said, I hate to confess that The Case of the Gypsy Good-bye was not my favorite. It wasn't necessarily a disappointing ending, and everything wrapped itself up well. But it was lacking in the general feel of the rest of the books. The codes, clues, chases, disguises . . . I liked that Nancy Springer revisited characters and Enola's roles - sort of like a trip down Memory Lane. It made me feel content. But all of the other books have held a sort of darkness to them. The Reader could feel the cold, clammy streets of the East End, the panic and heartthrob as the garrotter tightened the cord about one's neck. I didn't get that feeling at all in this one. Dark London was not made present, and that has partly been the very essence of Enola Holmes. Nancy Springer has presented the beautiful and the dark of London in every story in new and interesting ways, but the series's conclusion . . .

Still, Nancy Springer could have given a very unsatisfactory ending, and if all I have to complain about is that, then I am satisfied. I wish the series weren't done, but at least it went out well.

Overall Rating: |||||

Sherlockian Rating: |||||

Others in the Enola Holmes Mystery Series:
1)The Case of the Missing Marquess
2)The Case of the Left-Handed Lady
3)The Case of the Bizarre Bouquet
4)The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan
5)The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline
6)The Case of the Gypsy Good-bye