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Mar 19, 2015mmcbeth29 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This is the final book in the Enola Holmes series. It begins with Sherlock receiving an unusual package that he realizes is for Enola from their mother. In order to find Enola, he tricks her by bringing the family pet to a place he expects her to show up. They talk about a missing person case that they are once again attempting to both solve on their own. They do not work together at this time. Enola goes through a lot of trouble to dress up as a cab driver in order to go to the bad part of town to get more information. She finally realize she needs some help and enlists Sherlock who in turn brings Mycroft in on the chase. They later agree to let Enola continue to live independently and together they read the message from their mother--a goodbye letter. Of all the Enola Holmes books, this one was the most disappointing. Enola finally trusts Sherlock to help her, but she has not really grown and matured other than she is no longer angry and crying for her mother. She is somehow more clever than Sherlock (he does not recognize her in her most simple of disguises and she solves cases he does not), but she has no reason to be. Independence of spirit does not automatically equate genius. Springer brings back old characters from other books AGAIN! When reading books I look forward to new and interesting characters rather than going back to where we have already been. Enola stumbles over the missing person in this book rather than using major problem solving to find her. There are many other problems to this story, but if you have read the whole series it is a necessary book to read as a conclusion. Again, there is much to disturb the young reader including violence with knives and sexual references, Enola is a fourteen year old girl who is abandoned by her mother and ends up living on her own in the slums. She keeps a knife in her corset that she does use. This book is advertized as a junior novel for grades 3-7! These topics are in no way appropriate for a 3rd grader or any elementary student for that matter. If this were a movie, it would be rated PG-13 at least. I would love to see this series reclassified as Young Adult. It is written on the 7.5 grade reading level too. I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up. The series as a whole is an interesting time period mystery for older readers.