Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor

by Stephanie Barron

Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility were introduced to me when I was young.  I found myself captured by Jane Austen’s love stories and the unpredictable young heroines.  Consistently I was taken with the proud men who loved these women: Mr. Darcy, Captain Frederick Wentworth, and Col. Christopher Brandon. To me there was no romance like the ones Jane Austen created in her novels. Her writing was straight forward and sophisticated. Imagine my excitement on receiving this book during the holiday break!

The author Stephanie Barron presents this novel as part of a collection of lost letters written by Jane Austen. Austen is the protagonist in this story and readers catch up with her right after she has turned down Harris Bigg-Wither’s marriage proposal. Jane then flees this predicament and goes to her friend Countess Isobel Payne’s house Scargrave Manor. Isobel has recently married Frederick Payne and a ball has been planned in the new bride’s honor. The visit is going well until Frederick becomes very ill and dies. It is decided that foul play is involved and all evidence points to Isobel being guilty. A little later in the story Isobel’s personal maid, Marguerite is also murdered in a violent manner. Isobel pleads with Jane to solve the murders and prove her innocence. Jane embarks on a crime solving journey to solve the Scargrave murders in order to save her friend from the gallows.

This book had many enjoyable aspects. I loved having Jane Austen as the main character and incredible sleuth. She is presented as an intelligent detective, strong individual and wonderful friend. I loved how Stephanie Barron wrote in Austen’s old English and involved some of her history while writing this book. She made many footnotes explaining items or terms of historical or cultural importance. It is obvious Barron is an Austen fanatic like so many of us. I am not an expert on Austen’s writing or the time period, so if there were any discrepancies, I was not aware of them.  Some parts of the book seemed unrealistic at times, but because I was enjoying the book, I quickly overlooked them in order to continue with the story.

 I do not have a lot of criticism about Barron’s book. One negative comment that reviewers have said were that this book was not about Jane’s life. I did not expect this book to be about Jane’s life or her novels so I was not disappointed. I thought the novel was slow to really get started and it took me a while to get used to reading the language. I was also disappointed in the lack of a love story involved in Barron’s writings, especially because that’s what I enjoyed the most about Austen’s books. Despite these criticisms, I still appreciated the book and liked reading it. Read this book with an open mind and enjoy!

Rating: 4 out of 5

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