strange and random happenstance

When I first watched Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking it felt like a fresh take on Holmes and Rupert Everett seemed well cast. The problem is in the proceeding twenty years Sherlock Holmes kind of went boom then bust, with Robert Downey Junior playing him on the big screen in Guy Ritchie's films, to Jonny Lee Miller on Elementary, to Benedict Cumberbatch on Sherlock. Now people are wanting their Sherlock with a twist, look to Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes and Blu Hunt as Sherlock's daughter Amelia Rojas. We as the audience demand more of our stories and watching Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, we see the flaws. What will strike you most is that they didn't even bother to film this TV movie on a decent film stock. It lends that faux reality to it, wherein it almost feels like you're watching the news. This is actually a problem I have with all high-definition film conversion, which this is obviously not. But there's a weird surreality making them hyper real. If you doubt my theory watch Jaws in high-def, it's like watching a documentary about the seventies. But here they coupled their bad film stock with a bad transfer, wherein the PAL to NTSC transfer is jittery, making it look even shittier. Though the worst decision of all was they stuck to the when in doubt use a fog machine for atmosphere school of Victorian filmmaking. There is so much fog you can barely make out any of the action in outdoor scenes, yet incongruously there wasn't enough fog to hide the modern metal structures near the cemetery! The lack of production quality seeped over into the historical details. They very obviously had no historic adviser. Instead they had a slouching Duchess smoking filtered cigarettes almost thirty years before they existed. I mean seriously, she wouldn't have shown exasperation and insolence to a police officer, she would have shown hauteur! And that doesn't even cover the telephones and the improper titles for the King and Queen! They seemed to want to update Holmes, but instead of going all out like Elementary or Sherlock, they added incongruities that exasperate the audience versus adding to the story. But oddly enough what annoyed me the most was the lackadaisical floorplan for 221B Baker Street, which in an odd error is actually once referred to as 222B Baker Street. Of all locations in books and films, I don't think there's any one more regulated than 221B Baker Street. But then again, watching it all these years later, I seem to have nothing but problems with this production. I even question the casting of Rupert Everett as Holmes. He brought nothing to the role other than the required hawk-like profile. Holmes is fun for his excitability, his dark humor, his mood swings, yet Everett plays him almost atonally. But Holmes is supposed to be balanced by Watson. And Ian Hart was miscast abysmally as a lecturing antagonistic parental figure for Holmes, with a very rat like face. With their ongoing bickering one wonders why they are even colleagues at all, because with this behavior they are certainly not friends! Yet all these flaws could be overlooked if the conclusion and the revelation of the killer hadn't been so absurd. And in what is an even weirder turn of events, it isn't Holmes who expounds on how he figured it all out and when and why, but it's the killer explaining himself FOR NO REASON to his latest victim that we get his lame reasoning for killing. He's not a Bond villain for crying out loud! I actually applaud the production of a Sherlock Holmes story wherein Holmes is a nonentity. Not what I or anyone else would have done, but it's at least novel.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 221B Baker Street, Amelia Rojas, Bond Villain, Dr. Watson, Enola Holmes, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, High-Def, Ian Hart, Rupert Everett, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, Victorian

Of all the famous literary characters the world over I do not think any of them come close to Sherlock Holmes when it comes to adaptations. There are the canonically accurate adaptations but there are just as many parodies, pastiches, and perhapses. And one must never forget the mice. With the freedom to fully explore the world that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created there is one trend that surpasses almost all others, and that's bringing greater visibility to women within the Sherlockian oeuvre. We have his housekeeper, his wife, his sister, his woman, any female presence stepping forward to compensate for the dearth of women in the original stories and solving crimes in their own right. There's a reason Irene Adler is "The Woman" in the original stories. She's really the only one. Sure Watson has a wife, but the death of his first wife and then his remarriage is barely mentioned in the stories so I don't think they technically count. Women just don't figure into the world of Sherlock Holmes and that is why so many people have been trying to right this wrong. Which brings us to our newest entry, Sherlock and Daughter. Yes, he has a daughter. But the twist is he didn't know about her and she didn't know about him and they are so similar and pig-headed that they spend most of their time arguing or trying to prove the other wrong instead of working together. This show is a perfect fit for the CW feeling very much in the vein of Reign minus the obligatory pop standards. I mean Riley's wife from Buffy the Vampire Slayer even plays a pivotal role! If that doesn't scream CW I don't know what else does? Well, the costumes. They're not really accurate and look a little cheap, but with a cast consisting of Fiona Glascott, Aidan McArdle, Ardal O'Hanlon, and Dougray Scott deliciously chewing the scenery as Professor Moriarty while living in the lap of luxury in prison, this is a who's who of actors beloved for years of work in British period dramas which means I'll forgive a lot. Though I should probably mention that most of them are Irish. And Father Dougal McGuire kind of deserves his own category. Which brings us to a man who is in a category all his own, David Thewlis. David Thewlis plays a Sherlock Holmes worthy of any category of Sherlockian adaptation. He could just as well have been the equal of Robert Downey Jr. but instead he's embracing his new role in life, playing father figures to Victorian scamps. I mean, between this and The Artful Dodger he could be employed in this paternalistic pattern for years to come. He brings a pathos to the role and Blu Hunt as his daughter, Amelia Rojas, has just the right combination of smarts and recklessness that are needed to solve the mystery of the red thread. Because of course there is a worldwide conspiracy afoot that brings the two together. And of course the perpetrator is Moriarty's own son who can also serve as a love interest to Sherlock's daughter. I mean, it's the CW of it all, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun. Here's hoping that this show that has just the right light touch returns to grace our screens for years to come. Because I really do need a regular David Thewlis hit and the release date of season two of The Artful Dodger hasn't been announced yet. Myabe I'll go back and watch An Inspector Calls again.... Or because it's the right time of year perhaps The Island of Dr. Moreau.... 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amelia Rojas, And the Emmy Goes To, Arthur Conan Doyle, Blu Hunt, CW, Daughter, David Thewlis, Dougray Scott, Father, Female, Moriarty, Period Drama, Reign, Sherlock and Daughter, Sherlock Holmes, The Artful Dodger, Victorian

Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose by Nancy Springer
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: September 5th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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Enola Holmes has never been one to take no for an answer or to back down from a mystery. Although these days she's spending more time with her own studies and enjoying a peaceful life not having to hide from her bothers than working as a perditorian. That doesn't mean she isn't occasionally to be found at the offices of one Dr. Lesley T. Ragostin PhD, her clever ruse to hide her own identity and sex. She's at the office one day when a rather rude man bursts in. He demands to see Dr. Ragostin. His best friend, Wolcott Balestier, hasn't returned home and both he and Wolcott's sister Caroline are mad with worry. Wanting to help contain the man's hysteria she offers to take down all the details and embark on the case herself. This angers the man. A young girl could not possibly do the work of a man and he departs in a huff. Most likely off to hire Sherlock thinks Enola darkly. And even though this mystery man didn't bother to introduce himself she was able to get enough information to search out Wolcott's sister, Caroline. Yes, at first it's outrage that drove her to seek out Caroline, but the poor woman is standing on the street corner asking if anyone has seen her brother and Enola's heart breaks. Enola feels for the woman and decides that she will bring Wolcott back to his sister no matter that the angry man thought that she wasn't up to the case. It really is just about helping Caroline. Being able to gloat a little at the end of the day won't hurt though. But the deeper she gets in the case the more dire things seem for Wolcott Balestier. The neighborhood he was last seen in is known for a gang that doesn't take kindly to strangers. What's more there are rumors that a man matching Balestier's description was attracted by a rabid dog. If this is true perhaps Balestier took himself off to die somewhere away from his family and friends. The disease has no cure and the death is a painful one. But as Enola dons various disguises, helped out by her fellow lodgers at the Professional Woman's Club, to get into Caroline's house, to find out more about rabies, and to attend a literary soiree, she worries if they will just not find Balestier, or, if they do and he's been bitten, not find some way to save him. With her brother's help and the hindrance of the angry man, who turns out to be author Ruyard Kipling, they might just crack the case. Ruyard Kipling might be rude and underestimates women, but he sure can write and seems to care about the Balestiers. Plus, it would really piss him off if Enola saved the day. And she does like to thwart people's expectations.

I had planned for my review to start out by talking about how much delight I take in this series and hoped to enjoy it for years to come. Especially the way that Enola messes with the masculine establishment and in this volume in particular takes great glee in messing with Rudyard Kipling, which Nancy Springer took great glee in as well. It has become a birthday week tradition for me the last three years to read the latest adventures of Enola and then I learned that tradition would be no more. Nancy Springer, rather causally stated on Twitter leading up to the release of Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose that "the next, and last, Enola Holmes novel will be published in a few days." I couldn't believe it's the last. It appears to be because she's not writing at all anymore due to age, but I mean age is really just a number? I'd be willing to take one book every two to three years if that would be a satisfactory arrangement. I just can't not have Enola in my life. She entered it when I really needed someone who, despite all the windmills tilting against them, just got on with it. She knows what is right and she always fights for it. Plus, Nancy Springer builds her books around obscure yet fascinating history. In this instance it's rabies. I find it interesting that a lot of people in this day and age don't know about the dangers of rabies. I remember in one of the Amelia Peabody books she has a close call with rabies and it's literally as if she's been diagnosed with an incurable disease. Because for so long that's what it was. You got rabies and you died. Horribly. And while the number of shots needed to survive rabies has declined since Wolcott Balestier underwent his treatment, when I was a child the treatment was identical to that undergone by Balestier. How do I know this you might ask? Well, thankfully it's not from direct personal experience, but still, personal experience nonetheless. And made me learn at a young age not to mess with rabies or racoons. In second grade one of my classmates was involved in an altercation with a rabid racoon. Given his history I'd lay the blame firmly on him and not the trash panda. Anyway, he had to undergo weeks and weeks of painful shots. I envisioned it as that wall of needles coming towards Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back. And it gave me joy. He really was a little shit. But reading this book I was fascinated to learn the origins of the vaccine and also blown away that in almost a hundred years the vaccine remained relatively unchanged. I will miss these insights into history. I will miss Enola. I know, you might comfort me that there could be more movies. You know what? It's not the same. That's not my Enola. This is.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Caroline Balestier Kipling, Enola Holmes, Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose, Murder Most Foul, Perditorian, Rabies, Racoon, Rudyard Kipling, Sherlock Holmes, The Empire Strikes Back, Wolcott Balestier

Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Millie Bobby Brown's Nineteen Steps is a moving tale of love, longing, and loss, inspired by the true events of her family's experience during World War II.

Love blooms in the darkest days...

It's 1942, and London remains under constant threat of enemy attack as the second world war rages on. In the Bethnal Green neighborhood, Nellie Morris counts every day lucky that she emerges from the underground shelters unharmed, her loving family still surrounding her.

Three years into the war, she's grateful to hold onto remnants of normalcy - her job as assisting the mayor and nights spent at the local pub with her best friend. But after a chance encounter with Ray, an American airman stationed nearby, Nellie becomes enchanted with the idea of a broader world.

Just when Nellie begins to embrace an exciting new life with Ray, a terrible incident occurs during an air raid one evening, and the consequences are catastrophic. As the truth about that night is revealed, Nellie's world is torn apart. When it seems all hope is lost, Nellie finds that, against all odds, love and happiness can triumph.

Nineteen Steps is a deeply affecting, mesmerizing page-turner inspired by the author's family history. An epic story of longing, loss, and secrets, Millie Bobby Brown's propulsive debut introduces an unforgettable, brave young woman and boldly portrays the strength in the power of love.

"Inspired by my Nanny Ruth, this book is very personal and close to my heart. I grew up listening to stories about her time living through the war. I'm honored to keep her story alive." - Millie Bobby Brown"

So the real question is is did Millie write this? Maybe... But did she though? Late breaking news, she didn't.

The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall by Ali Standish
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the critically acclaimed author of Yonder and The Ethan I Was Before, Ali Standish, comes a thrilling middle grade tale featuring hair-raising adventures, new friendships, secret societies, and the mind behind one of the greatest detectives of all time: Sherlock Holmes.

When young Arthur Conan Doyle is offered a spot at Baskerville Hall, a secret school for extraordinarily gifted children, he is elated at being chosen - and being given a chance to turn his family's fortunes around. There, Arthur makes quick friends with Irene Eagle, a girl who boldly strides into action, and Jimmie Moriarty, a boy whose brilliance rivals Arthur's own. Together, they discover that their new school is a peculiar place, home to leaning towers and unexplained explosions, prowling wolves and extinct birds.

Arthur quickly makes enemies, too - deadly foes who wants him expelled...or worse. When Arthur and his friends are invited into a powerful secret society called the Clover, they must pass three challenging tests to be accepted. But along the way, Arthur uncovers a mystery that will lead to grand adventure...and even greater danger."

Yeah, I'm all about Sherlock Holmes pastiches for a younger audience.

The Spanish Diplomat's Secret by Nev March
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In The Spanish Diplomat's Secret, award-winning author Nev March explores the vivid nineteenth-century world of the transatlantic voyage, one passenger's secret at a time.

Captain Jim Agnihotri and his wife Lady Diana Framji are embarking to England in the summer of 1894. Jim is hopeful the cruise will help Diana open up to him. Something is troubling her, and Jim is concerned.

On their first evening, Jim meets an intriguing Spaniard, a fellow soldier with whom he finds an instant kinship. But within twenty-four hours, Don Juan Nepomuceno is murdered, his body discovered shortly after he asks rather urgently to see Jim.

When the captain discovers that Jim is an investigator, he pleads with Jim to find the killer before they dock in Liverpool in six days, or there could be international consequences. Aboard the beleaguered luxury liner are a thousand suspects, but no witnesses to the locked-cabin crime. Jim would prefer to keep Diana safely out of his investigation, but he's doubled over, seasick. Plus, Jim knows Diana can navigate the high society world of the ship's first-class passengers in ways he cannot.

Together, using the tricks gleaned from their favorite fictional sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, Jim and Diana must learn why one man's life came to a murderous end."

Yes, yes, this week is ALL about Sherlock Holmes!

Crime Novels: Five Classic Thrillers 1961-1964 by Frederic Brown, Dan J. Marlowe, Charles Williams, Dorothy B. Hughes, and Richard Stark
Published by: Library of America
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 950 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the 1960s the masters of crime fiction expanded the genre's literary and psychological possibilities with audacious new themes, forms, and subject matter - here are five of their finest works.

This is the first of two volumes gathering the best American crime fiction of the 1960s, nine novels of astonishing variety and inventiveness that pulse with the energies of that turbulent, transformative decade.

In The Murderers (1961) by Fredric Brown, an out-of-work actor, hanging out with Beat drifters on the fringes of Hollywood, concocts a murder scheme that devolves into nightmare. This late work by a master in many genres is one of his darkest and most ingenious.

Dan J. Marlowe's The Name of the Game Is Death (1962) channels the inner life of a violent criminal who freely acknowledges the truth of a prison psychiatrist's diagnosis: "Your values are not civilized values." Written with unnerving emotional authenticity, the story hurtles toward an annihilating climax.

Charles Williams drew on his experience in the merchant marine for his thriller Dead Calm (1963). A newlywed couple alone on a small yacht find themselves at the mercy of the mysterious survivor they have rescued from a sinking ship, in a suspenseful story that chillingly evokes the perils of the open ocean.

In the beautifully told and sharply observant The Expendable Man (1963), Dorothy B. Hughes's final masterpiece of suspense, a young man in the American Southwest runs afoul of racial assumptions after he picks up a hitchhiker who soon turns up dead.

In twenty-four brilliantly constructed novels, Richard Stark (a pen name of Donald Westlake) charted the career of Parker, a hard-nosed professional thief, with rigorous clarity. The Score (1964), a stand-out in the series, finds Parker and his criminal associates hatching a plot to rob simultaneously all the jewelry stores, payroll offices, and banks in a remote Western mining town, only to come up against the human limits of even the most intricate planning.

Volume features include an introduction by editor Geoffrey O'Brien (Hardboiled America), newly researched biographies of the writers and helpful notes, and an essay on textual selection."

Whenever I need a quality read I always turn to Library of America. In particular their selection of crime novels can not be beat.

Crime Novels: Four Classic Thrillers 1964-1969 by Margaret Millar, Ed McBain, Chester Himes, and Patricia Highsmith
Published by: Library of America
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 950 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the 1960s the masters of crime fiction expanded the genre's literary and psychological possibilities with audacious new themes, forms, and subject matter - here are four of their finest works.

This is the second of two volumes gathering the best American crime fiction of the 1960s, nine novels of astonishing variety and inventiveness that pulse with the energies of that turbulent, transformative decade.

In Margaret Millar's The Fiend (1964) a nine-year-old girl disappears and a local sex offender comes under suspicion. So begins a suspenseful investigation of an apparently tranquil California suburb which will expose a hidden tangle of fear and animosity, jealousy and desperation.

Ed McBain (a pen name of Evan Hunter) pioneered the multi-protagonist police procedural in his long-running series of 87th Precinct novels, set in a parallel Manhattan called Isola. Doll (1965) opens at a pitch of extreme violence and careens with breakneck speed through a tale that mixes murder, drugs, the modeling business, and psychotherapy with the everyday professionalism of McBain's harried cops.

The racial paranoia of a drunken police detective in Run Man Run (1966) leads to a double murder and the relentless pursuit of the young Black college student who witnessed it. In Chester Himes's breathless narrative, New York City is a place with no safe havens for a fugitive whom no one wants to believe.

In Patricia Highsmith's The Tremor of Forgery (1969) a man whose personality is disintegrating is writing a book called The Tremor of Forgery about a man whose personality is disintegrating, "like a mountain collapsing from within." Stranded unexpectedly in Tunisia, Howard Ingham struggles to hold on to himself in a strange locale, while a slightly damaged typewriter may be the only trace of a killing committed almost by accident.

Volume features include an introduction by editor Geoffrey O'Brien (Hardboiled America), newly researched biographies of the writers and helpful notes, and an essay on textual selection."

Finally more Patrica Highsmith! I have been DEMANDING, OK, it's more like begging, Library of America to release all her books for years. Or just the Ripley ones... Please?

A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson
Published by: Mobius
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"One murder mystery movie. Three Dahlias. And a whole cast of suspects...

Ex-child star Posy Starling is finally filming her dream role - Dahlia Lively in The Lady Detective movie. But things take a nightmare turn when a prop weapon is replaced with the real thing - with almost fatal consequences for her fellow Dahlia, Rosalind King. There's something very wrong on the set of The Lady Detective - which means it's time to call in Caro Hooper, so the three Dahlias can investigate.

In between filming scenes, signing autographs for locals, photoshoots in London, talk show appearances and jetting off to France for an impromptu party, the three Dahlias do what they do best - surrupticiously sleuth. And very soon the evidence starts to point towards one particular co-star...

But before they can prove it, another murder rocks the production. And this time, with a storm raging, the river flooded and the bridge washed out, there are no police to rely on so it's up to the three Dahlias to stop a murderer in their tracks...before another victim is claimed."

If Acorn TV wrote books, this is your new favorite binge.

23 1/2 Lies by James Patterson
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Enjoy three heart-racing thrillers from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

23 1/2 Lies with Maxine Paetro: Lindsay Boxer's estranged father is gunned down execution-style, and her investigation uncovers life-altering truths.

Fallen Ranger with Andrew Bourelle: To Rory Yates, being a Texas Ranger means absolute loyalty to the badge. But he's put through the ultimate test when an armored car robbery suspect might be an ex-Ranger gone rogue.

Watch Your Back with Loren D. Estleman: When a starving artist is paid to expose his client's cheating wife, can he paint the picture that will save his own life?"

New Women's Murder Club! Sure I'm not the biggest short story fan, but Women's Murder Club!

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A standalone horror novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it's the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who've fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out...and failed.

When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who's now a cop.

There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it...But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they're trapped with someone - or something - that doesn't want them leaving the island alive."

I love people being trapped on islands with killers...

Dreambound by Dan Frey
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this thrilling contemporary fantasy novel, a father must investigate the magical underbelly of Los Angeles to find his daughter, who has seemingly disappeared into the fantastical universe of her favorite books.

When Byron Kidd's twelve-year-old daughter vanishes, the only clue is a note claiming that she's taken off to explore the Hidden World, a magical land from a series of popular novels. She is not the only child to seek out this imaginary realm in recent years, and Byron - a cynical and hard-nosed reporter - is determined to discover the whereabouts of dozens of missing kids.

Byron secures a high-profile interview with Annabelle Tobin, the eccentric author of the books, and heads off to her palatial home in the Hollywood Hills. But the truth Byron discovers is more fantastic than he ever could have dreamed.

As he unearths locations from the books that seem to be bleeding into the real world, he must shed his doubts and dive headfirst into the mystical secrets of Los Angeles if he hopes to reunite with his child. Soon Byron finds himself on his own epic journey - but if he's not careful, he could be the next one to disappear.

Told through journal entries, transcripts, emails, and excerpts from Tobin's novels, Dreambound is a spellbinding homage to Los Angeles and an immersive and fast-paced story of how far a father will go - even delving into impossible worlds - to save his daughter."

Who hasn't wanted to just disappear into their favorite book?

Putting the Ice in Nice by Diana Pharaoh Francis
Published by: Lucky Foot Press in conjunction with BVC
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 306 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It pays to be nice... but only if you’re into blood, pain, and tears.

Beck Wyatt, a witch with very few f*cks to give, is back in action, and as usual, her life has gone pear-shaped. Her maybe-boyfriend has gone MIA. One of her bffs fell into a big hole and got Lifeflighted to the hospital. The cops want to help her solve a kidnapping with a side helping of murder. Even worse? Her recently un-estranged mom wants to have brunch."

This is a series that has been on my radar for awhile and I can't wait to dive in.

Playing the Witch Card by K.J. Dell'Antonia
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic in the latest novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Chicken Sisters.

She gave up on magic. But magic didn't give up on her.
Three generations of magic. Two rogue exes. One Tarot deck.
The perfect recipe for chaos.

Flair Hardwicke knows three things: magic is real, love isn't, and relying on either ends in disaster. So while she's grateful for the chance to take over her grandmother's Kansas bakery after she finally leaves her cheating husband, she won't be embracing Nana's fortune-telling side-hustle. Hers is a strictly no-magic operation - until the innocent batch of Tarot card cookies Flair bakes for the town's Halloween celebration unleashes the power of the family deck, luring Flair's unpredictable mother to town, tempting Flair's magic-obsessed daughter, and bringing back Flair's first love while ensnaring her ex in a curse she can't break.

Flair's attempts to control the chaos only make things worse, playing right into the hands of a powerful witch. Suddenly there's far more at stake than her status as the most reluctant witch in town, and the magic Flair has long rejected becomes the only card she has left to play."

Instead of cottage core can we embrace magic core this fall? Because that is what this book is.

Hammer of the Dogs by Jarret Keene
Published by: University of Nevada Press
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 210 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Set in the wasteland of post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, Hammer of the Dogs is a literary dystopian adventure filled with high-octane fun starring twenty-one-year-old Lash. With her high-tech skill set and warrior mentality, Lash is a master of her own fate as she helps to shield the Las Vegas valley's survivors and protect her younger classmates at a paramilitary school holed up in Luxor on the Las Vegas Strip. After graduation, she'll be alone in fending off the deadly intentions and desires of the school's most powerful opponents.

When she's captured by the enemy warlord, she's surprised by two revelations: He's not the monster her headmaster wants her to believe and the one thing she can't safeguard is her own heart. Hammer of the Dogs celebrates the courageousness of a younger generation in the face of authority while exploring the difficult choices a conscionable young woman must make with her back against a blood-spattered wall. It's a story of transformation and maturity, as Lash grapples with her own identity and redefines the glittering Las Vegas that Nevada is known for."

If you're obsessed with the newest season of Miracle Workers, like I am, well this book is for you.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
Published by: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Enter a land of gods and monsters, soldiers and mercenaries, secrets and wishes - the explosive #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut in a new trilogy for fans of The Witcher and Gideon the Ninth.

Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren. Formed by human desires and fed by their worship, there are countless gods in the world - but after a great war, the new king outlawed them and now pays "godkillers" to destroy any who try to rise from the shadows.

As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered by a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing them and enjoys it. But all this changes when Kissen is tasked with helping a young noble girl with a god problem. The child's soul is bonded to a tiny god of white lies, and Kissen can't kill it without ending the girl's life too.

Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the unlikely group must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favor. Pursued by assassins and demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning. Something is rotting at the heart of their world, and they are the only ones who can stop it."

Sounds far more The Witcher than Gideon the Ninth, but I'm down with that.

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.

Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass - and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather's body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor's chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.

But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien's own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate..."

If you've been dying for the next Nghi Vo book, you are in luck today!

Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson
Published by: Doubleday Books
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A dazzling collection of eleven interconnected stories from the bestselling, award-winning author of Shrines of Gaiety and Life After Life, with everything that readers love about her novels - the inventiveness, the verbal felicity, the sharp observations on human nature, and the deeply satisfying emotional wallop.

In this brilliant volume, nothing is quite as it seems. We meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep; a secretary who watches over the life she has just left; a lost man who bets on a horse that may - or may not - have spoken to him. Everything that readers love about the novels of Kate Atkinson is here - the inventiveness, the verbal felicity, the sharp observations of human nature, and the deeply satisfying emotional wallop.

Witty and wise, with subtle connections between the stories, Normal Rules Don't Apply is a startling and funny feast for the imagination, stories with the depth and bite to create their own fully-formed worlds."

I'm hoping that in the short story format Kate Atkinson doesn't get bored of her characters and randomly ends the narrative like she did with Shrines of Gaiety...

In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Enrollment Begins Now.

A beguiling, sinister collection of 12 dark academia short stories from masters of the genre, including Olivie Blake, M.L. Rio, Susie Yang and more!

In these stories, dear student, retribution visits a lothario lecturer; the sinister truth is revealed about a missing professor; a forsaken lover uses a séance for revenge; an obsession blooms about a possible illicit affair; two graduates exhume the secrets of a reclusive scholar; horrors are uncovered in an obscure academic department; five hopeful initiates must complete a murderous task and much more!

Featuring brand-new stories from:
Olivie Blake
M.L. Rio
David Bell
Susie Yang
Layne Fargo
J.T. Ellison
James Tate Hill
Kelly Andrew
Phoebe Wynne
Kate Weinberg
Helen Grant
Tori Bovalino

Definition of dark academia in English:
dark academia
1. An internet subculture concerned with higher education, the arts, and literature, or an idealised version thereof with a focus on the pursuit of knowledge and an exploration of death.
2. A set of aesthetic principles. Scholarly with a Gothic edge - tweed blazers, vintage cardigans, scuffed loafers, a worn leather satchel full of brooding poetry. Enthusiasts are usually found in museums and darkened libraries."

I am a dark academia addict.

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Enter the bazaar of the bizarre - where fate and fortunes are for sale just beneath Covent Garden - in this high-stakes historical fantasy debut set in 19th-century London, perfect for fans of Neverwhere and The Night Circus.

Below Covent Garden lies the Under Market, where anything and everything has a price: a lover's first blush, a month of honesty, five minutes of strength, a wisp of luck and fortune. As a child, Deri was sold to one of the most powerful merchants of the Under Market as a human apprentice. Now, after seventeen years of servitude and stealing his master's secrets, Deri spots a chance to buy not only his freedom but his place amongst the Under Market's elite.

A runaway princess escapes to the market, looking to sell her destiny. Deri knows an opportunity when he sees it and makes the bargain of the century. If Deri can sell it on, he'll be made for life, but if he's caught with the goods, it will cost him his freedom forever. Now that Deri has met a charming and distractingly handsome young man, and persuaded him that three dates are a suitable price for his advice and guidance, Deri realises he has more to lose than ever.

News of the princess spreads quickly and with the royal enforcers closing in, Deri finds himself the centre of his master's unwanted attention. He'll have to pull out all the stops to outmanoeuvre the Master Merchant, save the man he loves, make a name for himself, and possibly change the destiny of London forever."

Yes, Freya Marske's The Last Binding book cover design is now a thing.

Jane Austen's Wardrobe by Hilary Davidson
Published by: Yale University Press
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Hilary Davidson delves into the clothing of one of the world's great authors, providing unique and intimate insight into her everyday life and material world.

What did Jane Austen wear?

Acclaimed dress historian and Austen expert Hilary Davidson reveals, for the first time, the wardrobe of one of the world's most celebrated authors. Despite her acknowledged brilliance on the page, Jane Austen has all too often been accused of dowdiness in her appearance. Drawing on Austen's 161 known letters, as well as her own surviving garments and accessories, this book assembles examples of the variety of clothes she would have possessed - from gowns and coats to shoes and undergarments - to tell a very different story. The Jane Austen Hilary Davidson discovers is alert to fashion trends but thrifty and eager to reuse and repurpose clothing. Her renowned irony and wit peppers her letters, describing clothes, shopping, and taste. Jane Austen's Wardrobe offers the rare pleasure of a glimpse inside the closet of a stylish dresser and perpetually fascinating writer."

Because nothing can tell us more about our favorite author than what they wore!

I Am Stan by Tom Scioli
Published by: Ten Speed Graphic
Publication Date: September 12th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The first graphic novel biography of the legendary Stan Lee, co-creator of many of Marvel's beloved superheroes, from Eisner-nominated comics creator Tom Scioli.

Everyone knows Stan Lee: His work at the creative helm of Marvel Comics resulted in the creation of many of the superheroes we know and love today, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and more. During his decades-long career at Marvel, Lee turned the comic book publisher into a cultural juggernaut that shaped and defined the burgeoning industry.

In I Am Stan, critically acclaimed artist Tom Scioli reveals the man behind the comics and cameos using the same medium Stan Lee revolutionized. This stunning graphic novel takes readers from his early days in the comics industry through his rise at Marvel (then Timely Comics), where his career was touched by other iconic creatives including Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Their collaboration would lead to the creation of the most iconic superheroes of today, and bring about the Marvel Age of the 60's and 70's that introduced new industry stars like Steve Ditko, and John Buscema. Readers will follow Lee's trajectory from his daily life at Marvel to his later years as a spokesperson for the company and for comics as a whole, and finally to his last years away from the spotlight. Scioli provides a clear-eyed view of Lee's triumphs at Marvel as well as the controversies that surrounded the creator at the end of his life.

Told in Scioli's inimitable, vividly cinematic illustration style, I Am Stan reveals Stan Lee's life through the medium he knew best and reveals the inner workings of the legendary creator."

Stan, The Man, Lee!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ali Standish, Dark Academia, Diana Pharaoh Francis, James Patterson, Jane Austen, Kate Atkinson, Katy Watson, Kelley Armstrong, Library of America, Millie Bobby Brown, Nev March, Nghi Vo, Sherlock Holmes, Stan Lee

Shadows and Dreams by Alexis Hall
Published by: Riptide Publishing
Publication Date: June 14th, 2014
Format: Kindle, 312 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

A damsel in distress walks into the office and Kate Kane sets to make it right. That's what being a P.I. is all about, racking up the exes and femme fatales, which aren't mutually exclusive. This ex was more an almost hookup in the doorway of a Pizza Express, but beggars can't be choosers and it's been a dull few months since Kate sent that sewer faery packing. And yes, he had some fancy ass title he went by, but let's face it, he was a faery living in a sewer hence sewer faery. What's more Kate's girlfriend is a centuries old vampire Prince who is too busy selecting a new Prince of Swords after the last Prince of Swords got skewered along with the sewer faery to spend any time with her. Therefore Kate is glad to help Tash find her missing brother Hugh. He was admitted to hospital with a broken leg and then just disappeared. Kate dutifully heads off to the hospital to find that he mysteriously walked out on his own two legs. There's only one way that could have happened, he's been turned into a vampire. But what idiot would sire someone and leave them to fend for themselves? This is one of the many questions that Kate gets to contemplate as she's locked up in a dungeon. It turns out the Council isn't too happy about her running through the Prince of Swords ironically with a sword, so she is to stand trial for the murder of Aeglica Thrice-Risen. And Julian can't help her. Because if the Council gets even the slightest hint that the Prince of Cups has feelings for Kate they will kill Kate just to enact revenge on Julian. So Kate's to be brought up before a bunch of people who definitely want her dead. It doesn't help that they're all insane too. But somehow a miracle happens, she's paroled for the time being into the care of Acton, the "father" of Kate's ex, Patrick. She is cocooned in perfect domestic bliss while trying to figure out why someone would want to raise an army of uncontrollable vampires. With her statuesque assistant Elise at her side she realizes that she needs more information than the two of them can access. Therefore Kate turns to her usual sources of information, her exes. Patrick is unable to help because of his new nubile girlfriend, picture Kate fifteen years ago and you get the picture, Eve is now Batman apparently, terrifyingly Corin has escaped from prison, and Nim says that the answer to everything is in the dreams Kate keeps having about a dark force rising in London. A dark force that the Council fears, that is charge of the vampire army, and that could kill Kate in her dreams. Great.

Shadow and Dreams had the chance to flesh out the world of Kate Kane and instead it decided to lean into the pop cultural ephemera that distanced the reader from the narrative in the first book. If the references somehow actually worked within the story I might be more forgiving, but instead Kate appears to not even comprehend all the references so it feels more like the author talking to the reader through Kate without bothering to flesh Kate out. Kate's like Alexis Hall's mouthpiece where she's parroting references to Fifty Shades of Grey and Narnia and very specific YA authors and more fucking Richard Curtis films and even Star Wars without her even knowing what they are. And the worst part is, this makes her seem dumb. I'm not saying she is dumb, I'm saying she has "no intellectual curiosity," and her whole life is suspect. She's very two-dimensional; booze and broads, that's all she's about. She has no other interests, so perhaps the name-checking shared cultural experiences is another way to give her depth without bothering to put in the work, just like how Twilight is her whole backstory. Also, could we start distancing this series from Twilight instead of leaning in because once the spider monkey was brought up it broke me. Just fuck off, enough already. WE GET IT! Here's what Alexis Hall doesn't get, I'm starting to think the Twilight books were better written. I certainly enjoyed them more. I don't want to be reading a pale imitation of the original. Yes, Twilight should be mocked, but the longer the joke goes on the less funny it becomes. It should have been a starting off point instead of the only point. Also, when I said let's move on I didn't mean to start taking plot points from other authors. Every Sherlock Holmes fan will instantly recognize the plot to "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" and be wondering why it is even in here. I mean really, why!?! The problem I'm having with this series is I can sense what Alexis Hall is trying to do, kind of a female John Constantine, even if Kate's named after another DC superhero, but over two books now this hasn't gelled. Yes, I got some answers this time around, I now know that her apartment and her office are in two separate locations and the drink is to dull the call of her mother's powers, but that isn't enough to build a series on. The concept of Twilight was barely enough to build a series on, a Twilight parody is definitely not enough to build a series on.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alexis Hall, Femme Fatale, John Constantine, Julian Saint-Germain, Kate Kane, London Calling, Noir, Parody, Shadows and Dreams, Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, Twilight, Vampires

Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: September 6th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Enola Holmes currently has it all. She no longer has to sklunk about in the shadows as a perditorian hoping that her famous brothers won't catch her and send her off to a finishing school when all she wants to do is make a name for herself as a finder of the lost. She has her place in the world, a safe roof over her head at the Professional Women's Club, and the chance of an education at the London Women's Academy. But she is a rare case. Most women in Victorian London are nothing more than chattel to their male relatives, be they fathers, or as was the case for Enola, brothers. By showing Sherlock and Mycroft what she is capable of she broke out of the cage her contemporaries live in. But a girl whom Enola has viewed as a dear friend from the first moment they met is trapped in this cage. Lady Cecily Alastair hasn't had the best of luck. First she was hypnotized and abducted, then because of her abduction her family, in particular her father, Sir Eustace Alastair, viewed her as spoiled goods and tried to force her into an arranged marriage. Both times Enola saved Cecily. And now Cecily needs saving again. Sir Eustace has locked Cecily in her room making her a literal prisoner. Enola hears about this and rushes to Cecily's aid, breaking her out of her prison cell and secreting her away. The only problem is Cecily's family hires Sherlock to find her. Things have been going so well between Enola and Sherlock and it hurts her to have to lie to him to protect her friend, but he just doesn't know what it's like to be a woman. Thankfully Cecily isn't as helpless as she seems, at least some of the time, fleeing Enola's office before Sherlock discovers her hide-hole. The danger is Cecily's upbringing has split her personality between the left-handed and her right-handed selves. Her right-handed is the woman her father and society wants her to be, her left-handed is her true self, brave, resilient, and capable. The only problem is who knows when she will be which. And when Cecily fled Enola's protection because she worried that Sherlock would discover her will she thrive or will she barely survive? One thing is clear, Cecily needs Enola and now Enola is working against the clock and her own brother. Again.

The world that Nancy Springer has created with Enola Holmes is just a pure delight with her innovative use of language and worldbuilding. I could read a further eight volumes and never grow tired of Enola's adventures, though perhaps poor Cecily is tired... That poor girl deserves a break. And while yes, this book is an escapade from beginning to end I have questions. Now these questions are spoilers, so look away if you haven't read about Enola's elegant escapade yet. OK you have been warned and if you are still reading this I assume that you know what happens or are willing to be spoiled. So the "big reveal" that frees Cecily from the clutches of her father's machinations is that he has made his fortune as a resurrection man. Well a more refined resurrection man in that he's only selling off the corpses of his dead employees. And I have so many questions. Mainly, how does he have so many dead employees? I mean it's heavily implied they have all died of natural causes so he's not doing a Burke and Hare, so how can this be a guaranteed income? At the time this book takes place it was basically a dead end job, pun fully intended. Cecily's father would have actually made more money selling off the hair and teeth separately. But would this have been enough to support a family with eight kids in luxury? I think not! This story, more than any of the others, relies on a heavy suspension of disbelief, at least from my point of view. The crime that Sir Eustace Alastair commits is so horrific that you are meant to recoil at the crime and not question it. Not question the economic logistics. But I did. Burke and Hare made about £8 a corpse in 1828 and that was in Edinburgh where corpses were in high demand because it was the center of medical study and research when they committed their crimes. This book takes place in 1889 and the pounds purchasing power had declined so if the price of a corpse stayed the same he'd only be making £6.77. And it's not mentioned if he had a lucrative side business in articulated skeletons like H.H. Holmes did. To be middle class, which a Baronet definitely is above, he'd have to make more than about £150 per year. So a middle class person would have to sell twenty-two plus corpses a year if that was there job. How the hell could he get that many? What's more that doesn't take into account the Anatomy Act of 1832 which came about as a result of the London Burkers. It made it easier to obtain corpses for medical research due to the strictures of medical cadavers only being criminals being lifted and licensing of teachers. So we're to believe that fifty-seven years later a Baronet is making his fortune doing this? As Conan Doyle himself said; "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." And the truth is that this twist doesn't work.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Burke and Hare, Enola Holmes, Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade, H.H. Holmes, Lady Cecily Alistair, Mycroft Holmes, Resurrection Man, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked: Enola Edition, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: August 31st, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Now that Enola Holmes is no longer hiding from her famous, much older, brothers, she has the luxury of freedom. No longer constantly looking over her shoulder to see if Mycroft's lurking in a carriage to spirit her off to a dreadful and deadly boarding school. What's more, this means she can actually go and visit her brother Sherlock whenever she wants! Only her current visit to 221 Baker Street is at the insistence of Doctor Watson. Sherlock is suffering from melancholia. After triumphantly solving his last case he won't eat, he won't bath, he won't dress, and it took all of Doctor Watson's vast resources just to get him out of bed. So Enola swoops in. She is determined to get Sherlock off the sofa and back in the game. Thankfully a compelling case arrives on his doorstep. While he languishes on his sofa Miss Letitia Glover spins her story for Enola. Tish's twin sister Felicity has been declared deceased. But Tish just knows it can't be true. She would feel it if Flossie had left this mortal coil. They're twins after all. Therefore Flossie's husband must be lying. Felicity married above her station. While Tish is a humble typist, Flossie is a talented watercolourist and the wife of the Earl of Dunhench, Lord Cadogan Burr Rudcliff II. He wrote to Tish saying that Felicity had contracted a fever and died the same day and was immediately cremated in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Her ashes were included with the letter. Everything about this is too cavalier, too pat. But the case is enough to get Sherlock off the couch. Enola couldn't be happier. She's working a case with her brother! Or at least he'll soon realize they're working the case together once she arrives in Surrey. Of course she didn't intend to actually end up in Caddie's house. But since she's there she might as well investigate what happened to his first wife as well... because Caddie hasn't just tragically lost one wife in similar circumstances, but two. And things aren't adding up. For a family obsessed with death portraiture, neither of his wives have one. Then there's the secret message that Felicity hid in her most recent painting. And if they weren't convinced that Caddie was up to no good, the fact that Doctor Watson's signature was forged on the death certificate would be the nail in the coffin. Which begs the question, can they find Felicity before Caddie does something even more drastic?

Enola Holmes returns to her first home after her triumphant success on the small screen. When I was invited to be a part of the Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche Blog Tour I decided to do an Enola Holmes deep dive. I picked up my Scholastic Book Fair copy of The Case of the Missing Marquess and before I knew it, thanks to my local library, I had devoured Enola's entire back catalog of cases. For as long as I can remember Sherlock Holmes has always been in my life, primarily because of the Jeremy Brett adaptations for PBS which my parents adored. Personally though my Holmes canon revolves around Young Sherlock Holmes, The Great Mouse Detective, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and perhaps the first two seasons of Sherlock. Though the later seasons soured me to the earlier ones. What I'm saying is, despite there being SO MUCH Sherlockian storytelling out there, from irregulars to noncanonical wives, children, and siblings, only a few things have sparked something inside me and made me really connect to the material. This rarefied list now includes Enola Holmes. There is such joy and daring and girl power in this series that I fell instantly in love with it. What's more, Nancy Springer's use of language is a delight to read. To have an author properly use fantods in a text, it almost had me suffering from the vapors while Edward Gorey gleefully rolled over in his grave. This newest adventure, the first published in over a decade, shows a more mature Enola. After the events in The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye a shift has taken place. Enola is no longer having to divide her efforts between solving her cases and hiding from her famous brothers. Now she can concentrate on her work, or in this case, concentrate on inveigling herself into Sherlock's work. In fact, their one-upmanship brings about the funniest moments as Enola reverts a little to her more childish ways, because who doesn't revert to being a child around their siblings no matter their age? As for the case? Well, we are still dealing with the problems that only women suffer at the hands of Victorian society, but this time it's a little darker and a lot more Gothic, which has me very excited to see where Enola goes in future adventures and I can't wait.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Baker Street, Enola Holmes, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche, Feminism, Mycroft, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Great Mouse Detective, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Victorian, Younger Sherlock Holmes

The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye by Nancy Springer
Published by: Philomel Books
Publication Date: May 4th, 2010
Format: Kindle, 177 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola has another disappearance to solve, that of Lady Blanchefleur del Campo. She is the wife of a wealthy foreign nobleman, Duque Luis Orlando del Campo. The beloved Duquessa was with her ladies-in-waiting, ironically right near 221B Baker Street, when she disappeared into thin air. There was a woman who approached her at the entrance to the Baker Street Underground stop, but what happened next no one knows. Did the woman lure the lady down onto the busy platform? Was she dragged along the tracks to be dealt with? She had no reason to run away but then why is there no ransom? Enola is approached in her disguise as Miss Ivy Mshle, now Mrs. John Jacobson, Dr. Ragostin's assistant, she gave herself a promotion. The husband says he is desperate and would have called on the great Sherlock Holmes but he is out of town. Curious on so many levels Enola goes to meet the ladies-in-waiting and see the life the Lady Blanchefleur del Campo was living. If there is such a thing as a slave to fashion, the missing Duquessa is the embodiment of that phrase. She has spent her entire life in a constricting spooned corset, even sleeping in it. She has had several confinements but has always lost the children, not a surprise to Enola as the poor woman has the same measurements she did as when she was a child. But Enola has a theory.... The ladies-in-waiting lovingly describe their mistress's clothes when she disappeared and Enola wonders, what if she was taken not for who she was but how she looked and what she was wearing? As Enola herself knows from her first day in London, there are unscrupulous people who will do anything to earn a little money. She quickly flees to check out her hunch which is easy enough to prove, and also to avoid her brother who has arrived on the scene, but what won't be as easy is what Sherlock has in store for her. The problem with installing her ex-landlady, Mrs. Tupper, with Florence Nightingale is that now Sherlock has a place he knows she will return to. But just cutting out Mrs. Tupper wouldn't be right so Enola will have to risk being found out. Which happens in short order, not because Sherlock recognized Enola, but because her faithful pooch did. That's where he was when the Duque searched for him, down at Ferndell getting an accomplice to out Enola! But at least Sherlock views his sister in a different light after all her adventures. He's not going to throw her to the wolves, or as the case here would be, to Mycroft. No, instead he will ask her for her help with something that their mother sent him and in return they will search for the Duquessa together. And she guesses Mycroft can come along for the ride. Maybe they will reach an entente?

The "problem" with this book is the title, The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye. Oddly enough someone, somewhere, seems to have realized this and in the short story Enola Holmes and the Boy in Buttons which was released as a teaser for the first Enola Holmes book in over a decade it is referred to as The Case of the Disappearing Duchess. Some time later down the internet rabbit hole and it appears that perhaps this was done on British and Australian reissues when the Netflix movie came out. Be that as it may, someone at least realized the title of this book is just one big spoiler. Not that this really takes anything away from the book, it's just that you read the title and you think, oh, her mom's dead. Which is indeed the case. Which is also a good end to the series, or as it now stands, an end to the first arc of the series. Because Enola might have lost her mother but by opening up she realizes that she does have two brothers and if they could just really see her perhaps she doesn't have to spend her whole life alone like her name prophesied. And for me, the way the siblings come together through an interesting case and a long night shows that Enola can be accepted for who she is. What's more, I loved that Mycroft's every assumption was so far off base that he had more than a little egg on his face. While tying up the Holmes family drama Nancy Springer continues to handle topics of women's rights and what is done to them in the name of societal expectations. Lady Blanchefleur del Campo has suffered so severely at the hands of fashion that she literally cannot bear her own weight because her spine is too weak from a waist training corset. What I find interesting is that more recently there has been a push to say that corsets aren't the evil we once viewed them. That only those rare few cinched them tight enough to cause damage to internal organs leading to health issues such as the inability to bear children and constantly fainting. I have worn a corset and I didn't have any deleterious effects. But I wore one for only a few days and reading this book I thought back to one of my friends who in grade school had a scoliosis brace. To have to wear something everyday would be hard, but to do so AND try to use it to "improve" your figure? I don't think any right minded person would ever come to the conclusion that corsets are a good thing. But then again, people have always been choosing fashion over health.... Perhaps that's why there are those trying to rewrite the true history of corsets?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 221B Baker Street, Alone, Corsets, Disappearance, Enola Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Nancy Springer, Netflix, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Disappearing Duchess, The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye

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.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bramwell, Enola Holmes, Forced Marriage, Gossip, Lady Cecily Alistair, Mycroft Holmes, Newspapers, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, The Language of Fans, The Language of Flowers

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Kindle, 170 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola's encounters with Sherlock's right-hand-man, Dr. Watson, have been brief. Yet in that time she knew she was in the presence of an extraordinary man and that should anything ever happen to him she would do whatever was in her power to help. The occasion has arisen sooner than she ever thought possible as Dr. Watson has gone missing. Yes, helping find Dr. Watson might, just might, expose herself to her brothers, and result in her being hauled off to the nearest reform school with constricting corsets, but for Dr. Watson the risk is worth it. Yet she must adopt a disguise her brothers would never suspect if she is going to pay a call on Dr. Watson's wife, Mary. She decides she will appear as the very last thing her brothers would suspect, a beautiful young woman in the height of fashion. When she appears on the Watson's doorstep as Viola Everseau she is extremely confident the beauty she has become could be in the same room as her brothers and she wouldn't be found out. A theory that will be tested and proved correct before she leaves Mary. Yet it's what she finds at the Watson's that doesn't just unnerve her but makes her fear for Dr. Watson. The cops may say what they will about him getting away from it all for a few days, but Sherlock, Mary, and Enola know better and for Enola, the flowers speak volumes. Because among all the flowers and cards wishing Mary well during the disappearance of her husband there is one bouquet that stands out. It is a thing of beauty which belies the evil within. Each and every flower oozes venom and hatred. How could Sherlock not know the language of flowers? How could he miss this clue? Whomever has Dr. Watson, they want him to suffer and die. Therefore she must follow the flowers. Taking a room across the road from the Watson's home she sets up a watch. The flowers aren't a one time occurrence and therefore that is the evildoers weakness. Time and patience are what is needed, something that is in short supply when Dr. Waton's life might be in constant danger. But Enola knows one thing, this isn't about besting her brother, though that would be sweet, this is about Mary and Dr. Waton being reunited. That is all that matters, reunion with a lost loved one. Something Enola longs for herself.

This mystery galvanized me. The second Enola saw that evil bouquet a shiver ran up my spine. To lovingly grow and arrange such flowers with such an evil intent signals the sign of true villainy. In other words, this mystery was totally my jam. What's more I love that it reinforced how Enola is able to see what Sherlock doesn't. He would view flowers as "beneath him" because they are decoration and nothing more than something to do with women, a species he doesn't understand. When in fact those flowers are the whole essence of the case! Yes, it's a bit niche and Victorian, what with Enola and her mother communicating using this code, but Sherlock's bafflement as to what their code is is exactly why Sherlock has been at a loss to find either his mother or his sister and therefore makes it all the more important. This series has really made me think on how masculine the original Sherlock Holmes series is. That is why when the show Sherlock came about it made sense to call Irene Adler "The Woman" because in the canon of Sherlock Holmes she is in essence the only woman that matters. Dr. Watson's wife actually dies and he gets remarried and it's barely mentioned because women literally don't matter in this world they inhabit. Thus the idea of a prying, nosy, clever, and conscientious little sister being foisted on Sherlock and Mycroft is such a wonderful conceit. It's like literally the last thing they could possibly handle and handle it they must. One thing which I'm still not sure if it was handled right or wrong was the fact that the villain was a cross-dresser. Or as Sherlock says, suffers from "George Sandism," in reference to the French novelist who scandalously wore male clothing. While I've mentioned that this is a common mystery trope it's also one of the things that got Robert Galbraith's Troubled Blood in hot water. Of course the hate pouring off the pages of Troubled Blood is the exact opposite as here. This was handled delicately, but at the same time I was slightly troubled by the connection of mental instability and clothing choice.... It's a tricky subject and is something that merits discussion, or, at the very least, acknowledging that we have to do better.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Dr. Watson, Enola Holmes, George Sandism, Irene Adler, Robert Galbraith, Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets, The Language of Flowers, Troubled Blood, Victorian, Women

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Kindle, 252 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola goes by the name Miss Ivy Meshle now and works for Dr. Ragostin, the world's first perditorian, one who divines that which is lost. Of course there's the little fact that Dr. Ragostin doesn't actually exist and that Enola doesn't limit her disguises to just Miss Meshle. Enola wanted to hang out her shingle in competition to her famous brother Sherlock, he had found his life's work and now she had found hers. Only she had to make sure Sherlock and her other brother Mycroft wouldn't find her, hence the alias and the fictitious boss. That and the wholly sexist notion that no one would believe a woman capable of running what amounts to a detective agency. Thanks to her mother Enola was actually able to buy the building Dr. Ragostin's offices are in, running the other rooms as a boarding house, thus providing her with a tidy income. She'd show the world what a woman could do, even if she couldn't take the credit. And as luck would have it she has discovered her first case. Lady Cecily Alistair is the daughter of a wealthy baronet and she has gone missing. The family doesn't want this known because it would reflect badly on them and ruin their daughter's chances of making a good match. Enola therefore knows she must tread carefully and arrives at the Alistair's London home as the young wife of Dr. Ragostin. She is admitted into the inner sanctum of the house and soon has access to Lady Cecily's rooms. It is odd indeed. Things appear as if Lady Cecily just got out of bed and climbed down the ladder pushed up against her window and simply left her family behind. But a young woman of breeding would never do that would she? What's more, Lady Cecily had secrets. Most interestingly, she was left-handed, a fact her family didn't want known and she kept hidden, often forced to use her right hand. Her true feelings and talents only emerge when she secretly uses her left hand. Her worries about the London poor, her drawings of their plight, and her letters to a Alexander Finch. What could it all mean? All Enola knows is that Lady Cecily seems like the type of girl Enola would be proud to call her first friend and therefore she must rescue her from whatever situation she has gotten herself into. No matter how dangerous.

I know I can't be the only one who was tickled that Enola's solution to setting up her own business is basically the plot to Remington Steele. She is the Victorian era's Laura Holt! Though if anyone suggests setting up Viscount Tewkesbury as Steele I will be forced to slap them. This series keeps surprising me again and again with just how relevant it is. Which in a way makes me sad that it's been over a hundred years and the problems Enola was dealing with are still being dealt with. Yeah yeah, I know these were written only a few years back and not in the Victorian era, but Nancy Springer does her research and captures the time period perfectly in a way to which we can relate. What shocked me though was how eerily relevant the anti-vaxxer mob was. Did she know something we didn't know about how dumb people are and what could happen if another pandemic happened? At least in the Victorian era it was a little more understandable because of the lack of education and the high illiteracy rate, which makes it even more shocking to me that educated people will latch onto the lie in this day and age. WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. And we really should know better than the uneducated poor of the Victorian slums. Which is why I love this series, it's so socially aware. Enola doesn't live in a bubble. She understands excatly where she stands in society, the rights she doesn't have, the power her brothers do, and she works to subvert that all while helping those who need it. The fact that she dresses up as a nun and walks the streets at night offering them food or a warm blanket shows that she gets that even the smallest kindness can help. What's more it offers a nice balance to her brothers. They both live in this rarefied world. Sherlock only really views the poor and destitute as good disguises to blend in. But does he ever think to help these people? No! Just look at how he treats his irregulars! They are conveniently of a low enough station to be of use to him. If he helped them more, elevated them out of the slums, they would be of no use to him and so he doesn't help. And in the final contrast to her brother, Enola's purpose in life as a perditorian isn't about making a name for herself, it's about finding what was lost, a cause close to her as she has lost her mother. To find one's purpose at so young an age must be a wonderful feeling.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anti-Vaxxer, Dr. Ragostin, Enola Holmes, Lady Cecily Alistair, Miss Ivy Meshle, Nancy Springer, Perditorian, Remington Steele, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, Victorian

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
Published by: Scholastic
Publication Date: February 16th, 2006
Format: Paperback, 216 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

It is Enola Holmes's fourteenth birthday and it is sure to be a memorable one. Why you might ask? Because her elderly mother has disappeared. Enola was born long after her famous brothers Mycroft and Sherlock. One might even say indecently late. At least that's why she believes her brothers have avoided the family manse Ferndell and their female relatives for nearly her entire life. She and her mother are nothing more than embarrassments. But why would she choose Enola's birthday to disappear? Perhaps it is the prophecy of the name she gave her only daughter, Enola, which backwards spells alone. After spending her entire birthday confirming that her mother is indeed gone Enola contacts her brothers. She is sure they will be proud of the unique woman her mother has raised her to be. Instead they see a girl half feral who will have to be packed off to school to learn what femininity really is. But Enola is far cleverer than they give her credit for, just like her mother. Her mother had been padding the house accounts with fake expenses and squirreling away the money for just such an occasion as Enola now faces. With a beautiful book coded in the language of flowers Enola finds money secreted about the house, making her quite a wealthy young woman. Now she just needs to sneak out of Ferndell and find her mother and the two of them can ride off into the sunset together, never giving the men a backward glance. She successfully makes it to a distant train station disguised as a widow, thus concealing her features and making her appear older than her fourteen years, when she is distracted by the disappearance of Viscount Tewksbury Basilwether. He's only twelve and wouldn't it be just lovely to not only disappear under her brothers's noses, but also to dramatically solve a kidnapping? Sadly her ego exposes her cunning widow disguise as well as the fact that Tewksbury actually ran away. But reaching London she falls into a different trap not of her own making. One that Tewksbury himself has fallen prey to. Will she be able to escape, find her mother, and find her purpose in life, or is she destined to always be alone?

When the Enola Holmes film came out and took the whole world by storm I was going through a real rough patch in my life. I was having problems concentrating on anything that wasn't the gaping hole of pain I was stuck in. In fact I believe the film was the last thing I watched in my home before we had to move. That little television room had been my sanctuary all my life and the thought of never watching anything in it again was a thought I couldn't bear. So I kind of shut down and just got on with moving, and in particular packing up my books. While packing them up I found a copy of the first book in the Enola Homes series, The Case of the Missing Marquess. In a flash I remembered picking it up at the Scholastic Warehouse when I went with my mom years earlier to help her pick books for her school library. The find seemed serendipitous, so instead of consigning it to a box with other "S" authors I put it in my bag as something I wanted to read in the near future. Given my "to be read pile" it's actually surprising that I got to it in under a year. But I think that was due to the fact that I was invited to be on the blog tour for the release of Nancy Springer's newest Enola adventure, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche. But whatever the reason for my finally reading The Case of the Missing Marquess I'm ecstatic that I finally did. This book and then in turn this series brought something that I needed to my life. It brought wit and historical accuracy and fun! It brought female empowerment and puzzles! I wish this series had existed when I was younger because it was the first offshoot of the Holmes canon since Young Sherlock Holmes that made me love Victorian mysteries again like never before. And let me tell you, I was OBSESSED with Young Sherlock Holmes when I was younger. I can see younger me just reading and rereading these books until my teacher would interject that reading the same book over and over again doesn't count for Book It! And aside from it being a different series this IS something I was told. Yet it's wonderful for the adult reader as well because it's so layered with history and mystery that I just want to live in these books. Bring on more Enola!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alone, Birthday, Book It, Enola Holmes, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche, Mycroft Holmes, Nancy Springer, Scholastic, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Missing Marquess, Young Sherlock Holmes