“’Miss Meshle’ said Mrs. Tupper as she took my empty plate away, ‘if ye ‘ave time to set an’ talk a while…’”

From Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline.

Still hiding from her older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes is just trying to stay below the radar and carry out her detective work by posing as the secretary of a fictitious perditorian.  However, when her deaf, old landlady, Mrs. Tupper, receives a threatening and mysterious letter, she asks Enola for help.  Mrs. Tupper tells Enola about her experiences over thirty years ago when she went to war with her husband in the Crimean War, but when she quickly became a widow, Mrs. Tupper was then cared for by the legendary nurse, Florence Nightingale.  Mrs. Tupper has no knowledge of the secret message the letter claims she has, but when Enola returns home the next day to find Mrs. Tupper has been kidnapped, she jumps into action.  While searching for a message hidden in Mrs. Tupper’s belongings without her knowledge, Enola discovers that the only possession that stands out from Mrs. Tupper’s near poverty is a highly decorative crinoline, or sturdy petticoat.  Realizing that the ribbons on the crinoline contain a code of some sort, Enola races to decode the message, find a way to contact Florence Nightingale, evade Sherlock, and discover those responsible for Mrs. Tupper’s kidnapping… all before it’s too late.

The fifth book in Springer’s young detective heroine series is short, but full of action.  The mystery is similar in style to Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, but brings a fresh spirit to the gritty world.  Some older readers might guess at aspects of the mystery before the reveal, but it is still enjoyable to watch The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline unfold.