Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor is the first of Stephanie Barron’s 14 Jane Austen mysteries, based on Austen’s “discovered” diaries about her adventures as a sleuth.  The series’ witty tone is true to Austen’s, and portrayals of Austen’s family are based in fact. In this opening volume, Jane is visiting a friend “of more fashion than means” newly married a middle aged earl—who dies, poisoned, after a celebratory party. His will divides his estate between his countess and an heir known to be too fond of her, making the pair obvious suspects. As Jane works to prove her… show more.

As someone who re-reads all major Austen works every year or so, I am so grateful for Stephanie Barron’s creation of Jane as an amateur sleuth who can’t seem to visit a country house or a London mansion without coming across a murdered peer or a suspicious “suicide”! True to the actual Jane’s acquaintances, life events, and characters (she meets “Mr. Darcy” and other people who will show up in her novels), this fictional Jane sounds like the books she writes but with even more humor, acerbity, and sarcasm. 14 books and counting! Never gets stale!