Enola Holmes Lives Here

Because I am the author, Nancy Springer, after all, I have decided to make this the Tumblr place where Enola lives. She and I will both post here. As soon as I can figure out how.

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Pictured is the devious means by which Sherlock Holmes finally locates his missing sister in THE CASE OF THE GYPSY GOOD-BYE:  An Enola Holmes mystery.  Yes, it is Reginald Collie!

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Up until lately, this was the last of the six books in the Enola Holmes mystery series.  But rumor has it that the author is working on more.  Stay tuned...

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From THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY, speaking of Florence Nightingale: "she awaited me: a plump, sweet, smiling old-fashioned beauty sitting up in a large bed richly arrayed.  Her hair, parted in the centre and smoothed back in the simple manner of her youth...as if to show off the impeccable sheen and symmetry of her hair, she wore an odd sort of white kerchief that tied beneath her chin and lavished a cascade of lace from the crown of her head to her velveteen bed-jacket."

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THE CASE OF THE GYPSY GOOD-BYE:  An Enola Holmes Mystery

"Enola."  Sherlock addressed me with as much emotion as one was ever likely to perceive in him.  "My cherished sister, selfishly I have become quite addicted to you, your flair -- the zest of never knowing -- truly, I cannot wait to see what on Earth you do next."

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The last novel in the Enola Holmes mystery series is THE CASE OF THE GYPSY GOODBYE.  A Very Important Missing Person is to be found in one of the Gypsy vans pictured.  I myself (Nancy Springer, the author) spent a week in the company of Gypsies when I was fifteen, so I thought Enola might appreciate their larcenous company too.

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In THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY,  kidnappers believe Enola's landlady, Mrs. Tupper, to be a spy for "the Bird."

Here she is -- "The Bird" -- as she appeared before going to Scutari, and as she appeared after coming back less than five years later. 

Scutari was where the British "hospital" was located in Turkey during the Crimean war.  I leave you to guess who "The Bird" was.

#FlorenceNightingale #enolaholmes #mystery #Victorian #CrimeanWar #sherlockholmes #JVNLA

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THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE: AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY

CARRIER PIGEON, DELIVER YOUR BIRD-BRAINED MESSAGE AT ONCE OR YOU WILL BE SORRY YOU EVER LEFT SCUTARI

This, "in the most brutal handwriting I had ever seen, angular and bristling and penned with weapon force, each stroke a club at one end and a rapier at the other," was the mysterious message that terrorized Enola Holmes's landlady, Mrs. Tupper.

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In THE CASE OF THE PECULIAR PINK FAN:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY, Lady Cecily is concealed in an orphanage, where the chapel is to be used for her forced marriage to her toadlike cousin.  Enola disguises herself as a waif and helps Lady Cecily escape in disguise as -- what else -- an orphan, hair cut short.  #Enolaholmes #mystery #lit #Victorian #sherlockholmes #JVNLA

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The secret language of fans in the times of #EnolaHolmes:

Placed near heart:  You have won my heart.

Pressed to the lips:  You may kiss me.

Hiding shy eyes or drawn across cheek:  I love you.

Snapped open and closed:  I am vexed; you are unkind.

Fanning slowly:  Let me alone

Fanning rapidly: How exciting

Letting fan rest on right cheek:  Yes

Letting fan rest on left cheek:  No

Fan shut and drawn through hand:  I dislike you

Fan partway open:  I could be persuaded to like you.

And so on and on and on.  See THE CASE OF THE PECULIAR PINK FAN:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY.  #enolaholmes #sherlockholmes #Victorian #mystery #lit #JVNLA

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I keep forgetting to hashtag!  Deplorable!  Today I posted about fans re THE CASE OF THE PECULIAR PINK FAN:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY.  #Enolaholmes #mystery #Victorian #lit #culpablenegligence

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In THE CASE OF THE PECULIAR PINK FAN:  llAN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY, Lady Cecily's enigmatic fan is made quite simply of paper.  But the topmost fan above is made of gilded, sequined carved wood and tulle silk.  Fancy fans were made of lace, silk, leather, feathers, parchment, ivory, wood, snakeskin and alligator!  Properly tapped, snapped, twirled, or fluttered, fans conveyed signals, possessing a language all their own

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THE CASE OF THE PECULIAR PINK FAN: AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY

...Lady Cecily's gaze caught mine, and in that moment almost as if by accident her fan tapped her on the forehead.

I understood her signal at once:  Caution.  We are being watched.  The language of fans had been invented by young lovers attempting to court in the presence of chaperones, and in my innocent childhood days at Ferndell Hall, under the wry tutelage of my mother, I had often been diverted by watching.

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Cover art:  THE CASE OF THE PECULIAR PINK FAN:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY.  French, Portuguese, Japanese, USA hardcover, in which the fan can be seen in the hand of the escaping "orphan." #enolaholmes #mystery #lit #Victorian #JVNLA

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Japanese cover, THE CASE OF THE BIZARRE BOUQUETS:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY.

In this Enola Holmes adventure, Watson is maliciously confined to a lunatic asylum.  Hence the lovely but lunatic black&white picture.  Both Enola and I would love to know more about it. 

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Enola Holmes disguised as Miss Viola Everseau in THE CASE OF THE BIZARRE BOUQUETS:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY

#enolaholmes #sherlockholmes #mystery #Victorian #lit #JVNLA

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Enola Holmes disguised as Miss Viola Everseau in THE CASE OF THE BIZARRE BOUQUETS:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY

#enolaholmes #sherlockholmes #mystery #Victorian #lit #JVNLA

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"I would disguise myself in the last way that either Sherlock or Mycroft could envision. I would be beautiful." #enolaholmes #sherlockholmes #mystery #lit #Victorian #JVNLA

THE CASE OF THE BIZARRE BOUQUETS:  AN ENOLA HOLMES MYSTERY