Struggling detective Enola Holmes is determined to solve the mystery of the missing Lady Cecily, a teenager who has disappeared without a trace. Enola needs the money the case would bring, and as she learns about the baronet’s daughter she feels increasingly compelled to find her. Although Lady Cecily appears to be a respectable, gentile young woman on the surface, her collection of dark-themed charcoal drawings and a secret diary suggest a different story. Assuming an alias, donning disguises, and venturing into the dangerous nighttime streets of Victorian London, Enola risks her own safety as she searches for the missing teen. In her quest, she views firsthand the desperate living situation of London’s large impoverished population, and encounters the prevailing attitude differentiating between the “deserving” poor, and those who are considered undeserving of assistance. Although this is the second in the series, fourteen-year-old Enola’s newest case stands alone. Newly converted fans will want to seek out The Case of the Missing Marquess (Sleuth / Philomel, 2006) to learn how Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister was launched on her detective career. (Ages 9–12)

Enola Holmes is hiding from the world’s most famous detective—her own brother, Sherlock Holmes. But when she discovers a hidden cache of bold, brilliant charcoal drawings, she can’t help but venture out to find who drew them: young Lady Cecily, who has disappeared from her bedroom without a trace. Braving midnight streets where murderers roam, Enola must unravel the clues—a leaning ladder, a shifty-eyed sales clerk, political pamphlets—but in order to save Lady Cecily from a powerful villain, Enola risks revealing more than she should . . .

In her follow-up to The Case of the Missing Marquess, which received four starred reviews, two-time Edgar Award winner Nancy Springer brings us back to the danger and intrigue of Victorian London as she continues the adventures of one of the wittiest and most exciting new heroines in today’s literature.