Jane and the Wandering Eye: Being the Third Jane Austen Mystery
by Stephanie Barron
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephanie BarronEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1998-11-03
ISBN: 0553578170
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Jane and the Wandering Eye: Being the Third Jane Austen Mystery
Book Review: Darn! I wish I could say I liked this book better.
Summary: 3 Stars
Having read the first two books in this series and enjoyed them both I thought I would just pick this book up and begin a delightful reading experience. Sadly, that did not turn out to be the case. Even though a three star rating is not actually considered bad, it does say that I did not find the pleasure in reading this one which was so evident for me in the previous two.
Right away I began to have trouble. Maybe it was a lack of concentration on my part, maybe not. I had to go back and read the first chapter a second time in order to get all the many characters placed in my head. Even so I still lost track of one of them. I didn't think that Stephanie Barron did a very good job of clearly defining who was who for the characters. This was magnified by the fact that they were all in fancy dress, wearing masks, and Jane didn't know any of them, even if they had not been in costume. Lord Harold Trowbridge had gotten in touch with Jane (he knew her from another one of her mystery adventures) and asked her to keep an eye on his niece, Lady Desdemona. Lady Desdemona has been made an offer of marriage by the Earl of Swithin. She turns him down flat and leaves London to stay with her grandmother in Bath. Lord Harold wants Jane to keep an eye on Mona to make sure she doesn't do anything foolish, such as form an unacceptable alliance, just to prove to Swithin that she is serious about not marrying him. How was Jane Austen, a spinster on the fringes of high society, in very perilous financial circumstances, supposed to accomplish this task? That weakness in the plot was such a glaring problem that I began to read with a frown on my face and it didn't leave my countenance very often. The murder which happened at the fancy-dress ball was what ultimately threw the characters together but under normal circumstances I don't think Jane would have been very likely to become a confidant for Lady Desdemona. I needed something more substantial to tie these two women together in the first place.
I found that the sentence structure and word usage was not always well done. I had to fight to comprehend some of the sentences and read them over and finally arrived at the meaning. I do not read these books because I am a fan of the writings of Jane Austen. I read these books, first and foremost, because I love a good mystery. Having them "told and solved" by Jane Austen is just a plus for me. This mystery was not a very good mystery. I went back and read the last half of chapter 16 and the first half of chapter 17 over again to make sure I understood who, what, when and why. That is not a ringing endorsement. I pay close attention when I read a mystery because I like to solve it myself. Yet in this case I was confused and not very happy about it when all was revealed. And I will tell you right now, I did not like what Ms Barron did with one of the real life friends of Jane Austen. There was no reason that I can see for her to have cast any doubts on the death of that person. No reason whatsoever!
I'm sorry to say that any friend who asks my opinion of this book, and indeed this entire series, will likely get an earfull. I will not sugar-coat the entire series just because I liked the first book so very much and continued to enjoy the second in the series. This one was not up to standard for me and I will have to relay that information. It almost seemed that Ms Barron was using so much of her attention in getting the historical setting and the Austen voice correct that she forgot the mystery. Well, the historical setting is fine by me. I don't know enough to be critical. The Austen voice became quite a bit weaker in this third book, at least for me. The mystery? That came off almost like an afterthought which she continued to re-write and solve as she went along.
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