Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor: Being the First Jane Austen Mystery
by Stephanie Barron
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephanie BarronEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-20
ISBN: 0553385615
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor: Being the First Jane Austen Mystery
Book Review: A Supremely Enjoyable Romp!
Summary: 5 Stars
I must admit that I began Miss Barron's book feeling a little silly. I've been on quite the Jane Austen kick lately, and thought this would be a cute, if not quite satisfying, diversion to patch me through the hours between reading aloud "Pride and Prejudice" with my husband.
I was very pleasantly surprised, then, to find Miss Barron's book supremely enjoyable. She captures Austen's voice quite well, and refrains from indulging a modern reimagining of Austen and her contemporaries - there is no anachronistic (and oversimplified) feminist whining about the constraints of women's dress and station, for example. (Not to say that such complaint is always unwarranted, but to me such imposition of modern sentiments does violence to the text or film in which they are inserted - as though women in previous generations spent most of their time conscious of the distinct oppression of the female sex, and bemoaning it.) Eliza, Austen's sister-in-law and the Comtesse, is rather more liberally drawn, but the reader gets the impression that this portrayal is a rather accurate one, rather than an excuse for the author to inject some modern commentary on the Georgian era.
Not being a particular consumer of mystery novels, I can't speak of the novel's plot as it compares to the quality of other mysteries, but I found it quite difficult to leave off reading. The construction of the plot was enough to keep me exceptionally interested and keep me guessing until the end - where some personal suspicions were rebuffed, and others fulfilled.
I also found Miss Barron's presentation of the series rather pleasing; the book is presented as one of a collection of papers found in the Baltimore estate of some very distant descendants of Miss Austen, and this reader, at least, found it easy and enjoyable to play along and pretend that this was a very real discovery to give us more of a peek at the character and personal qualities of the elusive Miss Austen.
The "editor's" notes throughout the text are also singularly informative and profess Miss Barron (at least to this novice) as extremely qualified in the historical particularities of the Georgian and Regency eras.
Upon finishing this book, I have to say that my only fear is in procuring the next of its series!
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