Jane and the Canterbury Tale

Starred review from July 4, 2011
Set in 1813, Barron's excellent 11th Jane Austen mystery (after 2010's Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron) takes Jane to Kent for a lengthy stay with her brother Edward at his estate. When the body of a man, shot in the chest, is found on the Pilgrim's Way that dates to Chaucer's time, Edward, as first magistrate for the area, must investigate. Fortunately, he has his keenly observant sister to assist. As the case progresses, Edward fears that it may be "my duty to hang one of my friends before very long." Janeites will be pleased to see that Barron highlights the Austen family dynamics rather than the peccadilloes of the Regency's most privileged stratum, as she did in the previous two installments. They'll also enjoy tracing the parallels between the many distinctive characters and the inspiration for them in Austen's originals.

July 1, 2011

The joys of a marriage are eclipsed by the horror of murder.

Jane Austen is visiting her brother Edward Knight and his daughter Fanny at Godmersham Park in Kent. They are all attending the wedding of Adelaide Fiske, a widow whose first husband was a rake, to Captain MacCallister. The bride nearly faints when a servant brings a wedding gift from a mysterious stranger that contains only tamarind seeds, a reminder of her flamboyant exploits on several continents with her former husband. The next morning a shooting party finds the body of a man. At first they think his death a horrible accident, but Jane quickly realizes that he's been shot at close range with a pistol. When the body is identified as Curzon Fiske, Adelaide's first husband, a number of people become suspects, including Adelaide and her entire family. Edward, who is First Magistrate of Canterbury, is not afraid to seek advice from his needle-witted sister, who has repeatedly proved her worth as a crime solver (Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron, 2010, etc.). Jane must follow the twists and turns of an unusually complicated mystery while trying to protect her niece Fanny from the heartbreak of an unsuitable attachment.

Barron writes charmingly in the style of Jane Austen while providing a leisurely exploration of murder and local society in a gothic tale that's more than equal to Jane's earlier cases.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

A mysterious corpse in Jane's (Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron) backyard is somewhat of a wedding crasher for Adelaide Fiske and Andrew MacAllister. And then we learn the dead man was Adelaide's first husband.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2011
Barron channels Jane Austen beautifully in this charming series. Jane's tenth case has her visiting her brother Edward's estate in Kent for the fall social season. At the party following the wedding of Adelaide Fiske and Andrew MacAllister, a mysterious stranger arrives and leaves a bag of tamarind seeds. This strange gift renders the bride deathly pale. Early the next morning, her niece, Fanny, brings the news that a body has been discovered along the Pilgrim's Way. Rather than an unfortunate pilgrim, it turns out to be Curzon Fiske, Adelaide's husband, who had been missing and presumed dead. Edward is the local magistrate, but Jane does the major investigating, using her charm and her intellect to discover why Fiske reappeared and how he finally died. Austen fans, cozy lovers, and historical-mystery readers will all enjoy this delightful story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)