From Publishers Weekly
Readers who hope to recapture, if only briefly, the pleasure of reading Jane Austen for the first time will welcome Barron's eighth Jane Austen mystery, set in the summer of 1809. Jane and her mother have just settled at Chawton Cottage, the country house that will be Jane's last home, when she's surprised by the delivery of a bequest from the late Lord Harold Trowbridge, who was murdered at the end of
Jane and the Ghosts of Netley (2003). No sooner has Jane established that the Bengal chest is filled with his lordship's personal papers than she discovers the mutilated body of a laborer in the cottage's cellar. Jane once again turns sleuth, investigating not only the murder but also rival claims to two different estates in the neighborhood, a bank robbery and a local man's disappearance. The author expertly weaves the tale's disparate elements, sympathetically sketching in such secondary characters as Jane's mother and brother Henry, on both of whom she casts an ironic eye. As usual, Barron has masterfully imitated Austen's voice.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
When Kate Reading wraps her lush, cultured tones around Stephanie Barron's exacting period diction, the listener is transported to Jane Austen's Hampshire, July 1809. Jane is recovering from the death of her beloved Lord Trowbridge. Trowbridge left Jane a trunk filled with his private papers, but before she can begin his biography, a body is found in the cellar of her cottage. Everyone is suspect, from lords to laborers. In her eighth performance of a Jane Austen mystery, Reading offers another example of remarkable control, allowing each character to speak in her own voice. Fans will savor this carefully crafted, beautifully read Regency tale. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
