The Wolf of Ennerdale

Gifted sisters investigate a mystery with wide implications in the involving novel The Wolf of Ennerdale.

In Warren Cabral’s thrilling family mystery novel The Wolf of Ennerdale, two detective-minded sisters are wrapped up in an international conspiracy when their uncle comes to town.

Mae and Isla have a penchant for investigating mysteries, as well as the supernatural ability to communicate with one another via thought. Although their uncanny awareness of what the other is thinking or doing throws off their parents and teachers, their Uncle Bill recognizes it as an old family legacy.

When Uncle Bill arrives at the girls’ home for one of his many impromptu visits, danger follows him. A violent motorcyclist purported to be a Russian terrorist appears in town, along with a stable of other unsavory characters who express suspicious interest in the nuclear power station where Isla and Mae’s parents work.

As Mae and Isla attempt to understand what’s happening in their town, the story alternates between sharp jumps forward, as when sudden acts of violence occur, and slower moments when the sisters research the strangeness unfurling around them, including why Juliet, their mother’s new friend, seems to know Bill and carries an esoteric Russian cross. Other symbols and clues include mechanical bugs, bicycles with hidden compartments, and eerie messages written on foggy windows.

The sisters also pretend to do schoolwork under their teachers’ noses while investigating and chatting back and forth through telepathy. While it strains credulity that an ordinary internet search using generic keywords would have hyperspecific results, the sense that the girls are close to far bigger discoveries generates ongoing interest.

Uncle Bill is the sisters’ excellent foil: A jovial and funny man, he appears wearing short running shorts and falls down a hill of sheep dung. However, the gullibility and confusion of characters including Mae and Isla’s parents is sometimes overplayed. Further, the illustrations are inconsistent in both quality and style. Some are large-scale watercolors that complement the characterizations, as with a closeup of Uncle Bill gripping a table and laughing toward tears. Others are small and imprecise.

The lively prose helps flesh out the inquisitiveness of the sisters, who enjoy figuring out puzzles and scratching their intellectual itches. They explore clues with an endearing sense of fun, poring over maps and watching political news even as malevolent forces stalk them. Surprising comedy results too, as when local vernacular words like “pong,” describing Bill’s foul smell, interrupt tense moments.

As the book continues and the mystery tests the sisters’ detective skills, it also yields truths that have far-reaching implications for the safety of their community and their family. In resolving the high-stakes criminal plot, the sisters lean on Bill and other close relations in a way that is satisfying, evoking a sense of their intimate family lives beside larger world events.

In the high-stakes mystery novel The Wolf of Ennerdale, exceptional sisters investigate an international conspiracy that threatens their hometown.

Reviewed for Foreword Clarion by Willem Marx
November 2, 2025

 "The bright illustrations and monochromatic accents alongside the text once again bring the key moments of the plot to life." LoveReading4Kids