Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Jane and the Genius of the Place
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Stephanie Barron
Class/Genre: Mystery Cozy Historical
Series: Jane Austen # 4
Bantam, Jan 1999, $22.95, 304 pp.
In August of 1805, sisters Jane and Cassandra Austen leave Bath to travel to their brother Edward's estate in Kent in order to enjoy the Canterbury races. All the rich and famous attend, making the area a perfect locale for amorality, scandal, and gossip. The most daring of them all is the figure in scarlet, Francoise, the French spouse of a banker, Valentin Grey.
However, the gossip about Mrs. Grey turns morbid when someone murders her. Most of the aristocracy assumes one of her lovers or her spouse killed her. Jane disagrees that this is a simple murder of passion. Having some previous success with solving crimes (see the three previous Jane mysteries), Ms. Austen begins to look for clues that will prove there are more sinister happenings than a deadly lover's quarrel.
The fourth novel in the Jane Austen mysteries continues with the same freshness and brilliant insight into the early nineteenth century that the previous three novels provided readers. The well-designed story line of JANE AND THE GENIUS OF THE PLACE provides readers with an intriguing and puzzling mystery. Jane remains interesting and the support cast adds authenticity. However, what makes Stephanie Barron's novel and, for that matter, the entire series so much fun to read is the details of the era with Jane's life interwoven into it, making for a superb who-done-it.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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