I just love Enola so much. She just fully refuses to be a proper lady like she’s “supposed” to be. At this point her pain in the butt brothers have realized that she can’t be tamed or sent to a boarding school, or whatever they want to do to make her a proper lady. They thankfully just let her be her awesome self. We start this story with her brother Sherlock being mopey and most likely in the throes of a depressive episode. Miss Letitia Glover goes to Sherlock for help and Enola is there when she shows up. Enola is instantly interested, as Letitia is a professional woman who wears pants and lives on her own! She tells the Holmes’ that she got a note from her sister’s husband who said she died.
Ms. Glover’s twin sister Felicity recently married the Earl of Dunhench (whose title just makes him sound evil before we even meet him), and the note about her sister came from the Earl. The death certificate is signed by Dr. Watson, who is Sherlock’s right-hand man, and super did not sign that death certificate! Everyone is pumped to find Felicity, because none of them really believe she’s dead. The title of this book comes from the black carriage (barouche) that carried Felicity away after she “died”.
There’s a lot of trickery in this story, but it’s all for the good of finding Felicity and ending the Earl’s reign of terror. We even get to see Tewky again! I liked this one, and recommend it!
Once again we find Enola having to (or really choosing to) rescue Lady Cecily Alastair. After her previous rescue, Cecily’s mom went back to her terrible, horrible no good father. Apparently it’s hard to pay for nine kids when you’re a woman and you don’t have a job! Again, I would not like to be alive in the Victorian times.
Enola finds out that Cecily is locked in her bedroom at her father’s house. Her mother is apparently also in lockdown. Enola tries to approach Cecily’s mom, because they’ve interacted multiple times in the past, but she isn’t even allowed in the door. Enola plots a bold and kinda crazy escape for Cecily. It involves an arrow, some string, and running through the streets of London in a nightgown.
Unfortunately, Sherlock wants to save Cecily just to bring her back to her father. Enola has to hide Cecily in her office, and when Sherlock tries to search the place, Cecily escapes again. Enola is scared because sometimes Cecily can take care of herself, but sometimes she really can’t. She basically has a dual personality, and one is way more competent than the other.
Just like any other Enola Holmes book, Enola has to use some trickery to re-save Cecily and also to get her brother on board with not sending Cecily back to her asshole father.
I thought it was funny that Sherlock was super against blackmailing Cecily’s father about some shady dealings they found out about. Enola was like “I’m all over this, damn the man”. I love these characters, and I love how short these stories are. I know it’s juvenile fiction, but they really keep me interested.
