“Flossie simply cannot be gone from this world,” Miss Letitia Glover declares, her eyes wet with emotion. “I would have instantly sensed my loss had she passed away.”
Enola Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’ young, quick-witted sister, nods and soon after promises to help with this woman’s case. The problem is, it isn’t exactly her case to help with. The woman had come to talk with Enola’s brother, the eminent detective.
Enola, you see, had been called to Sherlock’s apartment as part of an urgent request from his detecting partner, Dr. John Watson. Sherlock was in one of his depressive funks, a state he regularly finds himself in after a strenuous bout of thought and deduction. And once he enters into that state, it’s often very hard to bring him back to any semblance of normalcy.
Enola reasoned, however, that stealing away a case just might get the brilliant man to rise, shave and dress himself properly. And she was quite correct.
Now she and Sherlock are attentively listening to the particulars of Miss Glover’s case. They are approximately as follows:
- Miss Glover has a twin sister named Felicity (or Flossie, to those she holds dear).
- Flossie married, as quite a shock to her lower-class family, the Earl of Dunhench, a man known to have an eye for beautiful women.
- Miss Glover just received a strangely short missive stating that Flossie had died unexpectedly and was quickly cremated without a funereal.
- The ashes were sent with the note.
- And Miss Glover has been unable to find out anything more from the close-mouthed Earl.
- But one thing Miss Letitia Glover is convinced of is that her twin—connected to her by that odd emotional linkage that twins often have—is most certainly not
This time Enola and Sherlock are nodding in unison as well. And after Sherlock examines the ashes under a microscope, determining that they couldn’t possibly be those of a young woman (unless she was covered in brown fur and walked on all fours), he promises to look into the case. “We’ll do it together!” Enola makes plain to both Miss Glover and her brother.
In fact, Enola already has ideas for the part she’ll play and the disguise she’ll use to uncover further clues. Her brilliant brother might indeed be the best and most insightful male detective the world has ever known. But women can be insightful and capable, too.
And Enola Holmes is determined to show that she is the most capable of the lot!