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Jane and His Lordship's Legacy (Jane Austen Mysteries)

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The joy in reading Stephanie Barron's excellent Jane Austen mystery series, for me, lies not always in the mystery at hand (though they are rather good), but rather in the manner in which Ms Barron has successfully and brilliantly captured the inimitable Miss Austen's prose style, the manner in which she describes scenes and incidents and the manner in which she vividly portrays her characters. No one, to my mind, has ever successfully recaptured Jane Austen's voice to such an extent. And Stephanie Barron deserves all the praise for her hard work (I especially enjoy all those footnotes) and all her meticulous research. "Jane and His Lordship's Legacy," the latest Jane Austen mystery, was a joy to read. It takes place in 1809, when Jane and her mother had moved to the village of Chawton in Hampshire, where Jane's brother, Edward, owns property.

Edward has decided to move his female relatives into his dead bailiff's cottage in Chawton village, thus displacing the bailiff's widow, and provoking much displeasure amongst the villagers. Jane, still grieving privately for the death of Lord Harold Trowridge, a gentleman with whom she had solved several mysteries, and whom she had come to love quite deeply, is quite thrown to discover that the villagers view the Austens with suspicion and displeasure; and further, that residing in Chawton is one Jack Hinton, who claims that he, and not Jane's brother Edward, is the rightful heir to all the Hampshire estates that Edward will inherit from his rich relatives, the Knights, who had adopted Edward at an early age as their heir. If that is not all, on the very day that the Austen women move into their new abode, Jane receives a visit from Lord Trowbridge's lawyer and learns that Lord Trowbridge has left her all his papers and letters, so that she may write a memoir of his life. Lord Trowbridge's relatives are in an uproar over the legacy and have allowed people to believe that Jane was once Trowbridge's lover. Undeterred by all the malicious gossip surrounding her (to her mother's chagrin), Jane is resolved to read Trowbridge's letter and diaries and to write memoir that he believed only she could write. But even before Jane can delve into his lordship's papers, she discovers the dead body of a labourer is her cellar. A coroner's inquest reveals that the dead man, Shafto French, was murdered. Who killed him, and why was he left in Austens' cellar? Even as a very curious Jane considers these questions, the chest containing Trowbridge's papers is stolen. This coincides with the arrival of the enigmatic Julian Thrace, a gentleman whom it is rumoured is the new heir to the Earl of Holbrook, and his half-sister, Lady Imogen (the Earl's acknowledged daughter), whom Julian would displace as heiress to her father's riches. Could the theft be tied to the newcomers' presence? The quiet village of Chawton is suddenly hopping with activity! Nonetheless, Jane is determined to solve the mystery of the dead man in her cellar and to recover her chest. And with both her brothers, Edward's and Henry's, help she just might do so...

Stephanie Barrons'Jane Austen series only seems to get better and better. Fast paced and thoroughly engrossing, "Jane and His Lordship's Legacy" was a treat to read from beginning to end. The mystery subplot was a little bare, but what made this novel work and a joy to read was how the author presented her characters and the straits they find themselves in. It was all very realistic and believable. I, especially, liked that both of Jane's brothers were prominently featured and that they assisted her without quibbling at all. The respect and affection they had for their sister was evident. At the same time they were not above teasing her wickedly when the occasion so presented itself. It spoke of the kind of relationship the Austens had, and made the book a more heartwarming read. All in all, a thoroughly pleasing read, not to be missed whether or not you're a Jane Austen fan.

This latest book in the Jane Austen detective series is better than the previous entry ("Ghosts of Netley"). This book picks up with Jane and her mother moving into Chawton House - where Jane was to spend the last eight or so years of her life. Jane is, of course, mourning the death of Harold Trowbridge, but soon finds more than enough happening in Chawton to distract her. The family is given a cold welcome in Chawton, where her brother/landlord Edward Austen-Knight is held not to have paid sufficient attention to the villagers' needs. In addition, she is saddled with the bequest of Trowbridge's personal papers and the request to write his memoirs, not to mention a dead body in the cellar!

High points of this book: a well-plotted mystery with multitudes of suspects, the reunion of most of Jane's siblings as they help her figure out the mystery, riveting excerpts from Lord Harold's letters and diaries... do I need to add more? It's really good and, I would say, a high point in the series.

I have enjoyed every one of Stephanie Barron's fine mystery series and this book is no exception. In fact, this may be my favorite of the series. The mystery is well-written but, for me, this is not the true attraction of the novel--and it never has been for this series. Rather, I am always enthralled by Barron's ability to bring Austen back to life.

Barron's grasp of Austen and her world is phenomenal. Her Jane always rings true and there are many echoes of the sentiments and expressions in this series that let the reader know that Barron is truly knowledgeable about her main character. That Barron has a great deal of affection for Jane also comes through and Jane comes alive as a witty, intelligent, and fascinating woman who is also flawed. Barron's Austen is not above bouts of pettiness and impatience and Barron serves Austen all the better for it. Anyone who enjoys and reveres Austen will likely enjoy these books immensely for Barron does an exemplary job of making Austen real and giving fervent Austen fans what they most crave--more of the fine brain and insight that characterize Austen's works. If we cannot have more Austen novels, we are yet very fortunate to have Barron's series.

What really sets this book apart is the maturity that Jane shows. Barron has deftly and seemingly effortlessly written a work that mirrors the sometimes melancholy, often bittersweet, and decidely autumnal feel that characterizes Austen's late work Persuasion. Barron's Jane is not sorry for the choices she has made but has seen much and has such a keen self-awareness that she knows all that she has lost. Though Jane's relationship with Lord Harold Trowbridge is fictional, the details of her dependence on her brothers and her frustrated attempts at publishing during her lifetime are not and Barron gives voice to Jane's feelings on these subjects.

Lest I give Barron short shrift, the central mystery of the story is well constructed and engaging. Barron, like Austen, shows the reader the constraints of the class structure of the day and the lengths to which people were willing to go to climb up the society ladder. Jane's bequest is both a blessing and a curse for it brings her closer to the man she loved and lost but it also imperils her because it contains provocative details that could make or break some of society's most powerful. At heart, this is a story of greed and ambition and though it is set hundreds of years ago its themes are still very contemporary.

Edward Austin, Jane's wealthy brother, possesses the freehold of every house in Chawton Village; he gives his sister and their mother the cottage of the late bailiff, dispossessing is wife which made the villagers irate. The female Austins believe the renovated cottage will make a happy home for them, a new beginning of sorts. On their first day in their new home, a lawyer visits Jane with a Bengal trunk that contains the letters, dairies, and miscellaneous papers of Lord Harold Trowbridge, the only man Jane ever loved.

Realizing that the trunk contains items that people would kill to own, she has it taken to the basement where they find a dead body. That same night while dining at the magistrate's house, someone steals the trunk and a laborer is arrested for the crime. A new arrival Justin Thrace arouses gossip and suspicion because he claims to be the Earl of Holbrook's heir. He and his half-sister Imogen are riding when she is thrown from her horse and dies because a thorn was placed beneath the saddle. Justin runs from the law after people accuse him of placing the thorn there. Jane learns that the corpse in the cellar was placed there by Mr. Hinton. As she makes inquiries she thinks the real killer has yet to surface.

Stephanie Barron gives a realistic portrayal of how impoverished genteel folks lived in Regency England. The investigation into the murders enables Jane to temporarily take her mind off the death of her beloved Harold. Though somewhat overly scattered with the motive coming late, the who-done-it is cleverly conceived inside of a fast-paced plot populated by eccentric likable characters making for a gem of a historical amateur sleuth.

Harriet Klausner

Stephanie Barron has done a marvelous job, novel after novel, of bringing not only Jane Austen's world to life, but also the beloved author herself. Barron has perfectly imbued Jane Austen as a would-be detective, a woman whose keen intellect cuts through murder and mystery alike. "Jane and His Lordship's Legacy", the eighth novel in the series, is just as fresh and enjoyable as the ones that preceeded it.

Upon the death of Lord Harold Trowbridge, Jane finds herself the recipient of his papers - all his journals and letters are left to her in his will, in an effort that she may sort through them and write his memoirs. Yet there are plenty of confederates, and enemies, of the Rogue who would do anything to know what was written about them by Lord Harold. As if the job of protecting his legacy from prying eyes wasn't burden enough, Jane finds that she and her mother as less than welcome in their new abode in the town of Chawton. Indeed, when Jane discovers the corpse of a man within the house's cellar on her first day in residence, she knows that someone is trying to paint the Austens in a negative light. And when the chest of Lord Harold's papers is stolen within mere days of her residency, Jane knows the murder and the burglary must be connected. As with all mysteries, another murder follows that confuses all of Jane's suppositions, and finds her racing to stop a murderer and to recover her lordship's legacy.

"Jane and Her Lordship's Legacy" is a worthy addition to the series Stephanie Barron has created. While she obviously takes liberties with Austen's life, and those of some characters around her, the majority of the storyline is based on established fact, and the created aspects are within keeping of Jane Austen. At times the language may be forced to fit or the descriptions befitting the time period become too bulky for the narrative, but on the whole Barron's writing vividly evokes Austen's day. It is a boon for fans who know there is no more original Austen works to be read.

I would call this a "mystery of manners". It portrays, in a credible way, Jane Austen, her siblings and her fellow inhabitants of the village of Chawton. All strata of society have representatives in this novel. The historical characters are embedded in a mystery story which is fun to read. The made up character of Lord Trowbridge, as revealed in his letters, adds spice to the novel. Some aspects of the murder of Lady Imogen strain belief, but this is not a major negative.

would be a better title for this book. Jane and her family have finally removed to a cottage in Hampshire on the Knight estate owned by her brother Edward. Jane feels she should be rejoicing in the move back to the country but her heart is heavy. She mourns the loss of Lord Harold and wonders what he really thought of her. Upon arrival, a London solicitor shows up at Chawton Cottage for Jane. He brings with him a bequest from Lord Harold. Lord Harold has left Jane a Bengal chest full of his personal papers for her to use in writing a memoir of him. Half of London would give anything for that chest of papers and the other half is busy gossiping about Jane's relationship to Lord Harold, much to the dismay of Jane's Mama. It also seems that the locals are unhappy with the Austens arrival in the country. They feel that one of their own, a Mr. John-Knight Hinton is the true heir. While the locals gossip about the too high in the instep ladies arriving at Chawton Cottage and despair over the removal of the bailiff's widow who previously inhabited the cottage, Jane is busy trying to hide the chest of papers. While moving the chest to the cellar with help from a neighbor, Jane discovers a man's body. Calm and collected, Jane knows just what to do and she isn't about to miss the inquest and her chance to give testimony. The her beloved Lord Harold's papers are stolen and Jane wonders if the two events are connected. It seems the locals may have an interest in Lord Harold's papers as well for a young Mr. Thrace has come to Hampshire. The London gossips say the young man is an illegitimate son of a peer and about to be made the heir. There are two possible gentlemen who could be the Mr. Thrace's father and both were connected to Lord Harold. The daughter of Lord Harold's old friend the Earl of Holbrook has also come to Hampshire to contest Mr. Thrace's possible right to inherit her family home. Rounding out the cast of characters are Major Spence who is the Steward of the Holbrook estate, two young ladies and a bunch of villagers and workers in Chawton. Jane must use her wits to discover who stole Lord Harold's chest and also see that the murderer is found and brought to justice. Part of this mystery should have been fairly easy for Jane to figure out. Once the clues were laid out and the red herrings cleared away, I figured out the mystery of the heir. Then I figured out the WHO and some of the why. It took Jane much longer and I would think that someone as intelligent as she could have used the information she was given to put the clues together and solve the mystery. I did not like the author playing fast and loose with real historical events and people. She explains why she did it in the Afterward but I don't like it when she does that. I do like that Jane went around accompanied by her brothers, though she makes a stupid mistake at the end. I also don't like that she had lost her heart to Lord Harold. I think the author is taking too many liberties with Jane Austen's life. I shall have to see how the next book is before I decide if I am going to continue reading the series.

It is 1809, a significant year in the life of our esteemed authoress Jane Austen. After close to five years of being shuffled about England between relatives, the three unattached Austen ladies: widower Mrs. Austen and her two unmarried daughters Jane and Cassandra are given permanent refuge by Jane's elder brother Edward Austen Knight in the village of Chawton. They will live at Chawton cottage the former residence of the recently deceased steward of Edward's vast estate there. Still privately grieving the tragic death of her dear friend Lord Harold Trowbridge (The Gentleman Rogue) nine months prior, Jane arrives in the village to find an uneasy welcome to the Squire's family. It appears that the villagers are unhappy that the widow of Edward's former steward was asked to vacate the cottage in favor of his family, and more seriously, Edward as an absentee Squire has been remiss in his duties since the death of his wife Elizabeth the previous year.

Within hours of Jane's arrival at the cottage she receives an unexpected visit from contemptuous Mr. Bartholomew Chizzlewit, attorney to the family of His Grace the Duke of Wilborough. Performing his duty as family solicitor, he deposits on Jane's dining-parlor floor a curiously carved chest announcing that she is listed as a legatee in Lord Harold's Last Will and Testament. His bequest (should she accept it) is that she accept his personal papers and diaries, "a lifetime of incident, intrigue, and conspiracy; of adventure and scandal; of wagers lost and won," and write his life story! After the Duke of Wilborough's family contested the legacy in a London court and lost, they are bitter about the arrangement and hold it against Jane. Not only is this startling news, the thought of reliving the Gentleman Rogues life, far before she met him, and then through his entire life as a spy for the British government, is both curious and painful to her. When the huge chest is removed into the cottage's cellar, another startling discover brings Jane's first day at Chawton to a scandalous close. A body of a man lies rotting and rat eaten on the floor.

Jane's brother Henry arrives the next day and the inquest into the mysterious death begins by the local authorities with Jane and Henry in assistance. After Lord Harold's trunk is stolen, Jane is convinced that it contains information that someone did not want her to discover. Could the theft be linked to the Wilborough family trying to cover up their son's notorious life? Or, could it be the newcomers to the neighborhood, Julian Thrace, a young London Buck who is rumored to be the illegitimate heir apparent to the Earl of Holbrook vast wealth, and his half-sister Lady Imogen, the Earl's acknowledged heir? Or, is the dead body in the cellar a personal vendetta by the bitter Jack Hinton, eager to make trouble for the Austen family? He claims to be the rightful heir to the Knight family estate of Chawton that Jane's brother Edward inherited. There are suspects and motives, suppositions and accusations galore for our observant and clever Jane to ponder and detect before she solves the crime.

One chapter into the eighth novel in the Being a Jane Austen Mystery series and I am totally convinced that Jane Austen is channeling the actual events of her life through author Stephanie Barron. She has so convincingly captured her witty, acerbic and penetrating voice that I am totally mesmerized. Like Jane, I am still grieving the tragic death of her secret crush Lord Harold. Reading his letters and journals was like bringing him back to life. Delightful torture for those Gentleman Rogue fans such as myself. JANE AND HIS LORDSHIP'S LEGACY was a very well-plotted and fast-paced mystery, but Barron really outshines her own talent with her incredible historical details and the fact that in this discriminating Austen-obsessed mind, no one will ever be able to match her unique ability to channel my favorite author's voice so perfectly.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

This is the 8th book in this series and I still consider it to be an engrossing one. Having Jane Austen as it's sleuth certainly lends a credibility to the series. I find that the characters are well written and the plotting is fairly complex in these books. In this book Jane is trying to recover from the loss of her paramour, Harold Trowbridge. The Earl has left all his papers to Jane in the hopes that she will use what is in this collection to pen a history of his life. Jane finds out that this posthumous request places her and her family in some peril and that people are being murdered around her. It is the threat of the secrets that may be revealed from these papers that causes all this. Jane manages to figure out what and why all this is occurring, Reading this book was a great deal of fun and I look forward to continuing the series.

Reading the preceding book in this series nearly broke my heart.Jane and the Ghosts of Netley Even though I know, historically, that Jane Austen died without marrying, I found myself wanting her to find happiness with her Gentleman Rogue, and I could hardly wait to find out what the fictional Jane did next. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its wonderful descriptions of Chawton and its environs, as well as for a perfectly delightful mystery with as many misdirections and red herrings as the best of Agatha Christie. I highly recommend this book, but would suggest the reading of "Jane and the Ghosts of Netley" first, in order to get the background of its story.