Moving into Chawton Cottage, Jane Austen gets an unexpected and mysterious Bengal chest as a legacy. But before she has time to study its contents, a corpse is found…
Three years after news of her scandalous husband’s death, Adelaide Fiske is at the altar again, her groom a soldier on the Marquis of Wellington’s staff. The prospects seem bright for one of the most notorious women in Kent—until Jane Austen discovers a corpse on the ancient Pilgrim’s Way that runs through her brother Edward’s estate. As First Magistrate for Canterbury, Edward is forced to investigate, with Jane as his reluctant assistant. But she rises to the challenge and leaves no stone unturned, discovering mysteries deeper than she could have anticipated. It seems that Adelaide’s previous husband has returned for the new couple’s nuptials—only this time, genuinely, profoundly dead. But when a second corpse appears beside the ancient Pilgrim’s Way, Jane has no choice but to confront a murderer, lest the next corpse be her own.
The book cleverly blends scholarship with mystery and wit, weaving Jane Austen's correspondence and works of literature into a tale of death and deceit.
The restorative power of the ocean brings Jane Austen and her beloved brother Henry, to Brighton after Henry's wife is lost to a long illness. But the crowded, glittering resort is far from peaceful, especially when the lifeless body of a beautiful young society miss is discovered in the bedchamber of none other than George Gordon - otherwise known as Lord Byron. As a poet and a seducer of women, Byron has carved out a shocking reputation for himself - but no one would ever accuse him of being capable of murder. Now it falls to Jane to pursue this puzzling investigation and discover just how 'mad, bad, and dangerous to know' Byron truly is. And she must do so without falling victim to the charming versifier's legendary charisma, lest she, too, become a cautionary example for the ages.
If Jane Austen really did have the ‘nameless and dateless’ romance with a clergyman that some scholars claim, she couldn't have met her swain under more heart-throbbing circumstances than those described by Stephanie Barron.
A skillfully told tale with a surprising ending. The narrative is true both to what's known about Jane's activities at the time and to her own private journalistic voice.
A chilling mystery with a solution that will leave you spellbound. Stephanie Barron does an excellent job of creating Jane Austen’s world. Details of early 19th-century country life of all cases ring true, while the story line is clear, yet full of surprises.
A light-hearted mystery… The most fun is that ‘Jane Austen’ is in the middle of it, witty and logical, a foil to some of the ladies who primp, faint and swoon.
For this diverting mystery of manners, the third entry in a genteelly jolly series by Stephanie Barron, the game heroine goes to elegant parties, frequents the theater and visits fashionable gathering spots — all in the discreet service of solving a murder.
