Meet Jane Austen, Detective!
Who would have thought it? Jane Austen discovering clues, sifting through evidence, unravelling nefarious plots and solving grisly murders. But when you consider it, the same keen eye for observation that makes Jane’s books such a joy to read would be invaluable to a sleuth.
I love this book. I love the mystery, I love the characters and I love this closer relationship with Jane.
Stephanie Barron must have devoured all of Austen’s novels. She writes in the Austen style which, from the opening paragraph, had me believing that I was indeed reading a hitherto unknown journal “discovered” in the basement of an old house.
As God is my witness, I am innocent of my husband’s death. Do not fail me, Jane!
My Amazon link :Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
In December of 1802 Jane has come to Scargrove Manor at the invitation of its mistress, Isobel Payne, Countess of Scargrove, to join in the Christmas festivities and to celebrate the return of the honeymoon couple with a Bridal Ball
She has scarcely arrived when a cruel blow of Fate fells the Earl with a mysterious and agonising complaint.
And through the snowy dawn, a faint echo of pealing bells; they toll nine times as I listen, straining for the count – the passing bell from the church in Scargrove Close, calling out that the Earl is in his final hours. Nine peals for the dying of a man, and then a pause; the toll resumes, a total of forty-eight times, for every year of the Earl’s life.
But for the bereaved widow, this is only the beginning of a greater tragedy!
Nasty anonymous letters, irate peasantry, disastrous red herrings, not one, but two cases of murder most foul culminating in a desperate race against Time as Isobel begs Jane to employ her acute powers of observation in order to discover the truth of the matter. The game is afoot!
To sum up
For a book featuring a feisty heroine with an acerbic wit, loads of entertaining dialogue, brooding, handsome gentlemen, lovely comments on the lives of “young ladies of more fashion than means”. and a mystery to solve, then you can’t go past Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor: Being the First Jane Austen Mystery
