Customer Reviews

Jane and the Barque of Frailty (Jane Austen Mysteries)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
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I'm normally a huge fan of Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries, but I found this one to be a bit disappointing. In this novel, a Russian princess is found dead and Jane and her sister-in-law Eliza are accused of the murder. The man who accuses them (a Bow Street Runner) grants them a temporary reprieve and allows them a week to discover the real murderer. I found this to be a bit far-fetched, but I found Jane and Eliza's rather nonchalant attitude to their situation to be even more ridiculous.

However, the thing I found most disappointing about this book is how obvious the "guilty person" is. I figured it out very early on in the book, and thus I found Jane's investigation to be a bit boring.

I love how Stephanie Barron captures the mood of 19th century England in her novels. I always feel like I've had a bit of a history lesson after reading the Jane Austen series esp since there are many interesting footnotes explaining some of the terms used. In the past I've almost felt overwhelmed in trying to keep up with the educational bent of the novels along with a complicated plot. The plot in this novel is a bit more straight forward and I found it an enjoyable read. I don't really look for character realism in historical novels. I think that would eliminate most of the women sleuths that populate many books in this genre. I can't really see the real Jane Austen as a sleuth, and this Jane Austen doesn't seem to do much writing, but I like that she has the real Jane Austen's family history.

Overall, Stephanie Barron has done a masterful job of invoking Jane Austen and her world through her series of mysteries starring Austen as a sleuth. The ninth installment, "Jane and the Barque of Frailty" is one of the weaker stories within the series. While still a testament to Barron's ability to weave a fictional tale around real-life historical figures, it is too far-fetched by half, straining the credibility that has been a keystone in the other works.

"Jane and the Barque of Frailty" finds Jane in London, awaiting the anonymous publication of "Sense and Sensibility" while staying with her brother Henry and his wife Eliza. While well past her prime, Jane still enjoys the delights of the town in spring. But as usual, she finds a mystery to solve when a Russian princess is found dead, her throat slit, on the doorstep belonging to a prominent Tory minister. Days before, scandalous letters between the two were published in the papers, but the death is declared a suicide. Jane knows it to be murder, and that the man under suspicion is not the guilty party, but before she can prove this to be true, she finds herself embroiled in guilt with the case and her very life in danger.

As always, Stephanie Barron's depictions of Austen's world are near-flawless: her use of language of the period and physical descriptions seem effortless and she does greater justice to Austen's legacy than many others who have stood to profit from her works. However, the storyline for "Jane and the Barque of Frailty" seems rather outlandish at times: the events that lead to Jane and her sister-in-law being suspected of foul play is a stretch, as are some of the manuevers Jane uses to gain information to clear her name. Still, this ninth installment is an enjoyable read for fans of the series, even if it does not rank up there with earlier and better entries.

This was the first of Stephanie Barron's books I've read. It was a decent period mystery. I found her to be better at imitating the writing of this time period than some other writers who I've seen attempt it. The footnotes provided some interesting historical facts. I found the storyline to be reasonably entertaining, if not all that hard to figure out. I found it a little bit implausible that Jane and her sister-in-law are quite so calm in the face of a murder accusation. I had trouble keeping straight some of the secondary characters, but I must blame this partially on my not paying as close attention as I probably should have early on in the book.

I read the Kindle version (on my K1). It had some minor formatting problems. There were a handful of places were two words were strung together. There were quite a few more place where there were paragraph breaks that shouldn't have been there (usually between two proper nouns). It was mainly problems of that nature. I wouldn't say to stay away from the Kindle version. It wasn't horrible, but the occasional errors were distracting.

Stephanie Barron's "Jane and the Barque of Frailty" suffers without the tension provided by Lord Harold. Though this is now the second book since he was removed from the series, the last one, "Jane and His Lordship's Legacy", was much deeper, fuller fleshed and engrossing. The loss of his character is quite obvious in the London ton setting and the mystery seems improbable. Still I enjoy the cadence of Stephanie Barron's writing and her pictures of Regency England are descriptive. I look forward to a new "episode".

I usually enjoy Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries but am finding that, as the series progresses, it seems to be losing something. Though Barron still has a gift for the period that makes the book sound like it could be told by Jane, I feel that this latest attempt is delving a bit into the realm of the Gothic, which I don't think is very much in keeping with Austen's personality.

The mystery itself isn't particularly well constructed. Jane and her sister-in-law Eliza are implicated in the death of a Russian princess and must work to clear their names. I didn't much buy this aspect of the book because the "motive" that was assigned to the two women was very flimsy. This, however, wasn't the part that bothered me the most. What did bother me the most were the things that Jane did in order to clear her name. To be specific about them would be to reveal something of the plot so I'll simply say that I didn't feel that the actions of the book Jane were in keeping with the character of the real Jane.

I also found Jane's attitude toward her manuscript in progress to be rather less than believable. Austen referred to her books as her children and while being accused of murder is certainly a reason to be distracted, I couldn't conceive that it would make Austen feel that absent about her manuscript. I also found it a shame that Barron didn't take more of an opportunity here to explore just how Jane must have felt on the eve of her first publication, of the hopes and fears she must have had.

In 1811, Jane Austen is staying with her brother and his wife Eliza because her sibling is helping her get her first book published Sense and Sensibility. They are at the theatre when Jane notices the Russian Princess Evgenia Tshoikova staring at Lord Castlereagh throughout the show. The next day she reads in the newspaper that the princess was found murdered, her throat cut, on Lord Castlereagh's steps. Eliza's friend the Comtesse d'Entraigues whose husband is divorcing her to marry a Cyprian asks her to sell her jewels.

Eliza convinces Jane to pretend to pretend to own the jewels to fool jewelry buyey Mr. Rundell, so the Comtesse will not be embarrassed. Rundell keep the jewels to appraise the and the next thing they know, Jane and Eliza are accused of stealing the Russian Princess's jewels, who they really belong to, and killed her to get them. Jane convinces the Bow Street Runners to free them so they can find the killer so that justice will be served and the real murderer will be imprisoned.

Stephanie Barron has written an exciting Regency historical mystery that gives the reader a glimpse of the dark side of the ton. From nobles to politicians, people will obfuscate the truth to hide their own peccadilloes. Jane dives into the investigation to prove her innocence and to spare her sister in law and brother any trauma. Historical mystery readers will love this tale.

Harriet Klausner

This was an exciting mystery with several surprises and an ending that was quite unexpected. For Jane Austen fans, these Stephanie Baron books are engaging and quite in the style of Austen.

Jane is staying in London with Henry and Eliza to oversee the publication of her first novel. Jane has a chance to experience life among the Great including the scandals and gossip that the ton feed on. The latest scandal involves a Russian princess and some love letters published in the newspaper assumed to be written to Lord Castlereagh, a prominent Tory MP. When Princess Tscholikova is found dead on Lord C's doorstep, it fuels the rumors of an intimate affair. Lord C swears he never knew the princess and was innocent of any wrongdoing. The coroner rules self-murder and the case is closed. However, Jane can not let the matter rest, for she and Eliza have been accused of murdering the princess, all thanks to a favor for one of Eliza's fellow French emigrees. Jane is determined to put her sleuthing skills to work to solve the murder. She sorely misses Lord Harold but his personal papers suggest that the late princess may have been a political pawn in a larger game between Lord C and his political opponents. Jane also wonders what role the beautiful high flyer Julia Radcliffe has to play, if any. There's no denying that all the men of London are at her feet. Could she be a French spy? There are plenty of twists and turns in this story to keep Jane and her readers guessing. Some mysteries remain unsolved even at the end. The mystery is quite intriguing though I found the political situation confusing. As for a story featuring Jane Austen, spinster, as a character, this one completely fails. It starts off well enough but heads into fantasy land and ending with something that no well-born lady, let alone Jane Austen would do, even to solve the mystery. Once again the author incorporates real life people and situations into her story which I dislike. This time she goes farther taking Jane into the glittering world of the ton and visiting with high flyers. The books always seem well-researched so it came as a surprise that the author would even consider having her Jane do something so improper. This is not the best book of the series but if you want to read it as a Regency-set mystery and ignore the fact that the sleuth is the REAL Jane Austen, it's quite a good book. It would be a better book with a made up heroine.

Here we are at the ninth novel in the Being a Jane Austen Mystery series, Stephanie Barron's sagacious slant on "our dear Jane" as a sleuth!

The spring of 1811 finds Jane in London staying with her banker-brother Henry Austen and his sophisticated wife Eliza at their residence on Sloane Street preparing her first novel, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, for publication. While attending a performance of Macbeth at the Theatre Royal at Covent Garden, it is difficult to determine who is the bigger draw to the audience; the esteemed actress Mrs. Siddons on stage, or the beautiful Russian Princess Evegenia Tscholikova in a box. That very week, her private letters to her married lover Lord Castlereagh had been published in a London paper for all to read. Such a shocking scandal for a Tory Minister is sure to have serious repercussions, but finding the lifeless body of the Princess strewn across the his front steps the next morning with her throat cut should not be one of them. Jane and Eliza are shocked, but certain that it is not the suicide that the paper reports.

Confident that the coroner's inquest will disclose the truth, Jane and Eliza soon learn that they are the prime suspects in the murder after attempting to help the Comtesse d' Entraigues discreetly sell her jewels. This act of kindness for Eliza's friend places them in an incriminating position. The authorities disclose that the jewels belong to the dead Russian Princess and not the Comtesse. Why were Eliza and Jane set up? Who is benefitting from the Princesses death? How will they save themselves from the gallows?

Jane negotiates a seven day reprieve to discover the truth and begins the investigation through London's fashionable Ton, dubious politicians, and their intimate circle of powerful women - the Barque of Frailty.

For those of you not in the know on Regency era colloquialisms, in common cant, Barque of Frailty is a woman of easy virtue, a mistress, or a prostitute. There are interesting "fallen women" who factor into this story, including the infamous Society supplicant Harriette Wilson, and the one hit wonder Julia Radcliffe. Harriette was a real "demi-rep" (woman of ill repute) who kept important statesmen tucked in her décolleté like a favorite scented lace hanky. Julia is fictitious, but cut from the same cloth.

Not far from these highly desirable "light skirts" are the men of the Beau Monde (fashionable society) and government circling their flame: Emmanuel, Comte d'Entraigues, Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moria, Charles Malverley, George Canning, and Robert, Lord Castlereagh to name a few, and there are many to remember in this tale of political intrigue, and passions spent and spurned.

Jane and Eliza are the key players through the political subterfuge and romantic dalliances in deducing the mystery. Some of their exploits require a total suspension of disbelief for a clergyman's daughter and a bankers wife. However, this adventuresome energy swiftly glides you through a masterful story that at times, reminded me of a Georgette Heyer novel. But, in due deference to Ms. Barron's skill as a mystery novelist, every time I hear the name Freddy, and there is a Freddy Ponsonby in this tale, it reminds me of Freddy Standen in COTILLION!

As we have continued through this series we have sleuthed with Jane in the country, by the sea-side, and in Town. I think I enjoy her temperament more in these novels away from London. I have always thought she preferred the county to Town. When visiting London in 1796, she wrote to her sister Cassandra, "Here I am once more in this Scene of Dissipation & Vice, and I begin already to find my Morals corrupted." In her novels bad things seem to happen to characters in London. Marianne gets jilted by Willoughby there in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, the married Maria Rushworth cheats on hubby with Henry Crawford and runs away with him in MANSFIELD PARK, silly, selfish Lydia Bennet elopes with Wickham, doesn't marry, and lives with him in sin there in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and Mr. Knightley escapes Highbury to Town to forget Miss Woodhouse in EMMA!

Is Jane trying to tell us something? In JANE AND THE BARQUE OF FRAILTY, we certainly meet with Dissipation & Vice. If a bath by fire is redemption for the reader after 235 pages of the dark underworld of "muslin company," then the final decadent scene set at the Cyprians Ball, an anti-Almacks soiree for the "high-water courtesans" and their entourage of moths, is a refreshing denouement. Jane (thirty-five year old spinster and country girl) and her sister-in-law Eliza (outrageous flirt and party girl) gain entrance for a scandalous subterfuge as masked "ladies of the night" to assemble all the key players into one room for the final show down. After the shocking conclusion, the mystery is solved, but the words used to describe those ladies who lived off their looks and charms are still rolling through my head...doxy, cunning jade, bird of paradise, celebrated Impure, Paphiana and trollop. Like Jane, I am glad I live in the country.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose