Enola Holmes

I have enjoyed many of the seemingly endless variations on the classic character of Sherlock Holmes, from the British Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch, to the American Elementary, with Jonny Lee Miller, and Lucy Liu as Doctor Joan Watson, to films like The Seven Percent Solution and Mr. Holmes, and many others. There have been some huge duds, too, which I will not bother to name. (Oh, well, what the hell. The universally panned Holmes and Watson, with Will Farrell and John C. Reilly.)

There is a series of six young adult books, with more likely to come, by Nancy Springer, about Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’ younger sister. She is as smart as they are, maybe even smarter, but of course handicapped by being young and female in Victorian England. But she manages. The plot is full of coded messages and derring-do, and satisfied me quite well. It’s vintage Sherlock in flavor. A Holmes pastiche of course always depends on the actor, in this case Millie Bobby Brown, who burst on the scene with Stranger Things, and is just about the hottest thing going right now. She nails it, you will just love looking at her as she uses her wits and jujitsu, often disguised as a boy. Well, you can’t do chop-sockey moves wearing a bustle! This seems tailor-made for a sequel, and if they make one I will eagerly watch it. But they better hurry. She is actually 16, and will soon be too old for the part.