Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels Vol 1 - Serena Blasco

Author: Serena Blasco

Genre: Graphic Novels, Detective Fiction.

Rating: 3.5 stars.

So! Here’s what you need to know first! I haven’t watched ‘Enola Holmes’ on Netflix, I haven’t read any Enola Holmes book before this one, and all I know of ‘Enola Holmes’ is what I saw in the BBC series ‘Sherlock’ starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which isn’t a reliable reference point. I have read every single Sherlock Holmes story, but that doesn’t help much in this case. So this is the perspective of a general reader (and graphic novel lover), not of an Enola Holmes fan-girl. (Just preparing you for why the review is so lacking on gush.😛)

This book brings together Serena Blasco’s graphical adaptations of the first three Nancy Springer novels featuring Sherlock’s younger sister Enola. Those who have read the original series might know that each of the first six books of the series contains one mystery for Enola to be solved, and at the same time, there is a larger narrative connecting them all and resolved only at the end of the sixth book. Thus, this collection has an incomplete ending in a sense as books 4-6 aren’t part of it. But whatever is covered in the book is enough to hook you.

The three stories in this book are:

1. The Case of the Missing Marquess: Enola’s mother disappears without any information whatsoever except for a collection of flowers and a coded message book. What makes it worse is that this happens on Enola’s 14th birthday. In desperation, Enola sends a telegram to her estranged elder brothers, the famous Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. But when they are convinced that their mother has disappeared voluntarily and that Enola needs to go to boarding school to become a “proper lady”, Enola decides to take matters in her own hands and runs off to London to dig deeper. While there, she hears about a missing young viscount and decides to look for him also.

2. The Case of the Left-Handed Lady: Still hiding from Sherlock and Mycroft, Enola has now christened herself as Ivy Meshle, secretary to the fictitious Dr. Ragostin, specialist in finding missing persons. When John Watson walks into Ragostin’s office one day with the intent of hiring the elusive detective to locate Enola, she takes on the case so that she can keep an eye on Sherlock’s moves and hopefully discover more of what happened to her mother. She also looks into a missing teenaged girl coming from a wealthy family, though the police are convinced that she has eloped.

3. The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets: Still hiding from her brothers, Enola walks into a local customer shop hoping to find newer disguises. On her way, she hears of Dr. Watson’s mysterious disappearance. While enquiring about this with Mrs. Watson, Enola discovers a strange bouquet, which her floral expertise tells her indicates bad luck and revenge. Will Enola be able to locate Dr Watson in time?

Where the book clicked for me:

❤ The book includes some serious topics within its content, such as women’s suffrage, societal compulsions about ‘proper’ women’s behaviour and appearance, poverty, class discrimination, and so on.

❤ At the end of each of the stories, there are excerpts of Enola’s secret notebook. This makes for an interesting addition as it reveals Enola’s thoughts and modi operandi through her doodles.

❤ The writing style is pretty quick-paced and help the story move further clearly and quickly.

❤ The illustrations are very good, painted in a watercolour-like effect, lending a light-hearted and dreamy quality to the tense subject matter. The main characters (except one key character) are drawn in a way suiting their personalities. I especially loved Sherlock’s and Enola’s upturned noses, thereby uniting them not just as siblings but also as two stubborn individuals who refused to see any way except their own.

Where the book didn’t click for me:

💔 As in almost every detective fiction, it is the main detective – Enola in this case – who finds out everything related to the mysteries. While I find this tough to digest even in regular detective stories (one reason I avoid the genre), it is even more unbelievable this time as the highly capable Sherlock Holmes is also part of the narrative. How is it possible that Sherlock has hardly any clue of what’s happening while Enola racks up the solutions and solve the case?

💔 Again, as in almost every detective fiction, clues conveniently present themselves whenever Enola is around. There are too many coincidences to be believable.

💔 I would have preferred a bit of variety in the mysteries. All three dealt with missing persons, and even the overarching mystery is about Enola’s missing mother. Though the resolutions were quite distinct, it still felt a bit repetitive after a while.

💔 The story development is quite abrupt at times. For instance, when Enola first leaves her house, it is only to find her mother. Why then would she abandon that search midway and go looking for another missing boy instead? It seemed silly.

💔 I loved Mark Gatiss’s portrayal of Mycroft in the BBC Sherlock series. According to Watson’s narration in the original Sherlock books, Mycroft is supposed to be tall and portly, similar to Sherlock in appearance though larger in build. So Mycroft’s physical appearance in this book was very, very disappointing to me.

All in all, the books were quick, fun, but one-time reads for me. Detective fiction fans or even fans of the Enola Holmes series might enjoy it a lot more. At the same time, the books kept me hooked enough to know what’s going to happen next.. As they are aimed at children/teenagers, they surely fulfil their purpose well for their target readers.

My thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC of “Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

To read my review on the second volume collecting books four to six, click HERE.