Book Review - Nancy Springer's The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan
The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: September 18th, 2008
Format: Kindle, 204 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Enola Holmes is taking a bit of a respite in one of London's brand new public lavatories for women. Such luxury, such decadence, such convenience! While there she sees someone she's been hoping to run into for quite some time, Lady Cecily Alistair. Ever since Enola rescued her from the clutches of Alexander Finch she has been hoping the two would become the best of friends. But when you're busy evading the grasp of your brothers, socializing isn't really at the top of your priorities. Plus, with her caseload, when would she have the time? But now she must make time, because Lady Cecily looks distraught. When Lady Cecily sees Enola she pulls out a pink fan and signals that she needs help. Before the two gorgons who are guarding Cecily return she drops the fan for Enola to pick up. Enola now has two clues, the gorgons and the fan. She would have more if she had been able to follow the trio, but she literally ran right into her brother Mycroft and that had her a bit shaken. She was hopeful that the gorgons dropped Lady Cecily at home, but that would be too easy. She is no longer in residence. What's more, Lady Cecily's mother has fled to her country estate which means Enola doesn't have a friendly face within the family to help with her inquiries. Back at her lodgings she scours old society columns looking for the gorgons but to no avail. Not only does she realize how much she hates gossip columns, but it has given her an idea. The fan has become the most important clue and this happens to lead her to one of the gorgons, whom flattery and vanity work wonders on. Lady Cecily is engaged to her cousin Bramwell. Judging by how she looked in the ladies lavatory this isn't by choice. Finding out where Lady Cecily is supposedly located Enola learns she isn't the only Holmes on the case. This could be a major problem, especially after her run in with Mycroft. Luckily, for perhaps the only time, she has the upper hand with Sherlock. She will help him and in return he will not use this case as a way to trap her. Because Lady Cecily's safety is, for the moment, more important than Enola's.
Anyone who has ever done a deep dive into historical fiction or British costume dramas has, at some point, learned a little in passing about the language of fans. Using a fan to communicate that which cannot be spoken to members of the opposite sex seems a bit far-fetched and impractical to me. At least with the language of flowers you can sit around admiring them and decoding them as you will, but fan gestures to me seem so fleeting and, dare I say, useless. But I love how this series is always using codes and secrets that are relegated to the female domain and making them useful for purposes other than flirting. Here is the first time I've seen fans used in a logical manner, aka, to call for help when to say so out loud would be dangerous. Genius! No one would, or in this case did, suspect and Lady Cecily was saved due to a pink fan. And while this is brilliant, I think what shines out most in this volume is it's humor. Nancy Springer knew that to balance the darkness of what Lady Cecily was going through there needed to be some truly funny moments to counter the bleak. I literally snorted out loud with mirth when Enola ran into Mycroft, screaming and then injuring him to make her escape. But nothing will EVER compare to how Nancy Springer wrote Enola's internal monologue while she searched the Victorian papers for clues as to the identities of Lady Cecily's captures. "Although I cannot say I particularly enjoyed it. Over the course of the next several hours I learned that croquet was quite passé, tennis and archery still in mode, but the Very Latest Sport for ladies was golf. Lord Jug-ears and Lady Parsnip-face had been seen coaching in Hyde Park; she wore a Worth gown of ciel-bleu French gibberish moire...A most distinguished gathering had attended the christening of Baby So-and-so, firstborn son of Lord Such-a-much Earl of What-does-it-matter. Satin was Out, peau de soie In. An oil-painting exhibition themed around the Progress of the British Empire was viewable at Gallery Ever-so-exclusive. Viscount and Viscountess Ancient-lineage announced the engagement of their daughter Long-name to Great-prospects, the younger son of Earl Blue-blood...I peered at photographs of Duchess Duck-foot’s boating-party, Baron Bulb-nose’s cricket-team’s annual banquet, Debutante Wasp-waist’s coming-out ball, and dozens more without finding either of the two unpleasant faces I sought." Well, I can say I did particularly enjoy it.
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