Review: Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose (Enola Holmes #9)

Title: Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose (Enola Holmes #9)
Author: Nancy Springer
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: September 5, 2023
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In May of 1890, Enola Holmes is finally fully on her own and, no longer hiding from her older brothers Sherlock and Mycroft, attending classes and occasionally pursuing her chosen profession as a scientific perditorian, a finder of lost things and people.

Wolcott Balestier, the representative of an American book publisher, arrived in London on a singular mission – to contract with English authors for their latest works. When Balestier disappears on the streets of London one day, his great friend – Rudyard Kipling – bursts into Enola’s office looking for help in finding him. Brash and unwilling to hire a young woman, instead he turns to Sherlock Holmes. Convinced that evil has befallen Balestier, at the hands of rival American publishers who pirate the works of English authors, he sets the elder Holmes on the trail.

But Enola is not one to accept defeat, especially not to her brother, and sets off on her own – determined to learn the truth behind the disappearance of the young American. Can book publishing truly be so ruthless and deadly or can the missing man be rescued from his apparent fate and returned to his friends and loved ones?

The redoubtable Enola is determined to do just that, even if it means working with her brother Sherlock!

Review:

Enola Holmes, the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes, is a scientific perditorian, which means she finds lost things. The author Rudyard Kipling bursts into her office one day, demanding that she find his friend, Wolcott Balestier. However, when he discovers that the perditorian is a teenage girl, he doesn’t hire her, but hires Sherlock instead. Enola won’t accept being passed over for a man, so she still conducts her own investigation to find the missing man. 

I love the character Enola Holmes. She’s dedicated to solving mysteries, and won’t let anyone say she can’t do something because she’s a woman. This story took an unexpected turn into looking at rabies. Through her investigation, Enola met a doctor who studied rabies and was developing a vaccine from the brains and spinal cords of dogs and rabbits who died from rabies. Though animal testing for medication and other things has been done throughout history, it’s not something we promote today. In the author’s note, she says that there was no evidence of a rabid dog in the lives of the real people who are mentioned in the story, so it seems like an unusual topic to include in this story. 

Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose was a great new Enola Holmes mystery. 

Thank you Wednesday Books for sending me a copy of this book! 

Content warnings: rabies, animal testing, animal death (mentions), stabbing, kidnapping

Other books in the series:

• The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes #1)
• The Case of the Left-Handed Lady (Enola Holmes #2)
• The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets (Enola Holmes #3)
• The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan (Enola Holmes #4)
• The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline (Enola Holmes #5)
• The Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye (Enola Holmes #6)
• Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche (Enola Holmes #7)
• Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade (Enola Holmes #8)

Have you read Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose? What did you think of it?