Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels Vol 2 - Serena Blasco

Author: Serena Blasco

Genre: Detective Fiction, Graphic Novel

Rating: 3.75 stars.

The second collection of Serena Blasco’s graphical adaptations, this edition containing books four to six of the Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer.

I still haven’t read the original books nor seen the TV series. But I have read the first volume of the graphic novel, which collected the first three stories, and that helped get into this one easily.

The three stories in this book are:

Book 4: The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan: A woman is being forced to marry, and her only hope of escape is Enola.

Decent story. Too many jumps in logic and too many convenient coincidences for my liking. The weakest of the three tales.

Book 5: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline: Enola’s landlady Mrs. Tupper is kidnapped, so Enola is personally involved in ensuring her safe return.

Better than the first one in terms of continuity and flow. Also contains a surprise appearance by a very popular and inspirational lady.

Book 6: The Case of Baker Street Station: A rich duquesa is kidnapped, and her husband comes to “Dr. Ragostin” for help.

This was a fun one, and also a test of memory as it contained references to incidents that took place in Volume One. I loved how Mycroft, Sherlock and Enola finally come together. This story also resolves the mystery that started it all –that of Enola’s missing mother.

The common theme in volume 1 was that all the cases dealt with missing persons. This time around, each of the three cases involves a missing woman. However, the stories didn’t feel repetitive this time around as the modus operandi and the resolution was quite different in each. Also, each case involves Sherlock also being hired for the investigation, not necessarily by the same party.

This series began with Enola’s mum going missing. In fact, Enola’s journey towards being a detective began with wanting to locate her mum. In the final story of this volume, the three Holmes siblings finally come to know about Enola’s mother. That track is interesting and comes to an end.

As in the first collection, Enola’s secret notebook filled with her illustrations, her thoughts about the case, and some informative points. These added the perfect conclusion to each story.

On the flip side, there are again far too many convenient coincidences. Most of the times, it is like information presents itself when Enola is around. I also found it tough to accept Enola as a fourteen year old.

The illustrations are pretty good in their effect. However, when Enola is in disguise, as she often is, the sketches are inconsistent. For one, her height keeps varying. When she’s disguised as a child, she’s suddenly shorter, and when she’s dressed up a man, she’s tall. Also, there’s one instance where Mycroft doesn’t recognise her at all - that was impossible to believe.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book more than the first one. I think Sherlock’s greater appearance in this collection had a small part to play in that, even though it is still Enola who is one step ahead of her more famous brother. Moreover, the three Watson siblings work together on the final case, and that was easily the highlight of the book. As these are aimed at teenagers, they will surely be a hit with the right target audience.

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