This is the second actual book by Jane Austen I’ve read, yet it was the first book Jane prepared for publication, though it was only published posthumously. From a quiet village home, Catherine Morland accepts the kind offer of family friends, and comes with them to Bath for a season. (Jane uses Bath as a backdrop a couple of times, and was definitely not fond of it or of most of its behaviors.) All the 17-year-old Catherine knows of life comes from Gothic novels, quite the rage in Britain at the time.

She has a very active imagination and fills in the blanks in her understanding Gothically – picturing all manner of vivid horrors behind closed doors and down dim hallways. Jane designed it perhaps as a parody, or maybe a comedy of manners. It plays well either way, and is often a lot of fun. Except I kept worrying about each new tangle Catherine involved herself in, not wanting anything too hard to happen to her young and naive self. Jane is good though (from the less than half of her books I’ve read so far) at having bad things happen to the bad guys, and in general good stuff happening to the good ones.

Isabella, for instance, is a stinker and ends up as she deserves – I could wish she was smarter and more discerning, and not bring so many difficulties on herself. Catherine’s brother is also naive and ill used, but with no long term consequences. Catherine herself nearly ends up engaged, not understanding the obscurities and nuances in the mating rules of that time. And then when she is sure she is headed into the arms of her true love, suddenly it all that blows up.

But since Catherine is definitely a good guy / person everything works out, and the blow up is a catalyst in producing her happy future. Long live Jane!

This volume, with Jane Austen cast as the detective, by Stephanie Barron, is eerie and hard and with several instances of real violence. And with George Gordon, Lord Byron, cast as the anti-hero. Of all the series, this is the toughest and most hard-boiled.

Knowing Stephanie Barron as being a stickler for detail (all these mysteries are set in days and times when Jane really was in each of the various cities and areas of England), I just checked Wikipedia for Lord Byron. And it turns out he really was as awful – nearly a monster – as Barron depicts him. Violent is one of the key words throughout the wiki info.

And violent he is in this book, all charm one moment, and violent in word and deed the next. His treatment of women would have him in prison today. Perhaps those powerful and beautiful poetic works would not have been written.

We also get an intriguing picture of the death and mourning rituals in Britain at that time, and get to see the seaside at Brighton at high season, with all of the highest crust of society bathing in their weird machines – dipping into the ocean without actually being seen. Much fun in that social commentary – how the rich do Brighton.

Lord Byron does not turn out to have been the actual murderer of the young woman who is the victim in this book. The answer as to who did it is quite shocking.

Another great work from Stephanie Barron, whose voice in the book is totally Jane Austen’s – in tone, in thought, and in detection.

This mystery, as with all the mysteries by Stephanie Barron featuring Jane Austen as the detective and cultural commentator, is just excellent. Turns out the Barque of Frailty is an Edwardian code for mistress, perhaps call girl, way higher on the social scale than a prostitute.

And Jane, in this book, actually develops a friendship with one of the leading such women of her day, and is kind and reciprocal, in the heavy and all-in-code way of conversations at that time. It is interesting – and not surprising – that there were entire salons of these women, attended by men of the nobility and upper classes, to drink and flirt and make their choices. While the culture itself twisted itself into pretzels to pretend no such thing was happening.

And, of course, it turns out that one of the guys who pretended to be entirely above it all – not like those other men over there – was likely the killer, though the question was not quite concluded by the end of the book. Jane, as is usual in these mysteries, is seen as an older spinster (in her late 20s) by many other characters, with the few, the discerning, recognizing her true worth.

And I recognize that paragraph as carrying the same tone as the book, and nearly written in Edwardian code. I fear I have been infected with the Jane virus.

The eighth in the Jane Austen as detective series by Stephanie Barron, this one begins with Jane’s great grief over the loss of Lord Harold Trowbridge, which occurred at the same moment that they declared their love for one another.

Jane’s grief is her own private torment, her mother and sister never having approved of that friendship which had grown deeper and richer. As this volume opens, Jane and her mother are just moving into a home owned by Jane’s older brother, Edward, who is extremely wealthy, where the rest of the family is decidedly not. The village of Chawton is already disposed not to be kind to the Austens, even more so when one of Jane’s first actions is to find a dead body in the cellar.

In the second major happening in this book, an ancient solicitor from London, a representative of the Duke of Wilborough, shows up at the door asking for Jane. He delivers to her a carved Bengali chest filled with all the journals, letters, diaries and other papers of Lord Harold, second son of the Duke, with the willed request to turn them into a memoir. The solicitor also points out that there have been many attempts to steal the papers.

Jane’s wealthy brother owns most of the village, another brother is a London banker, with a branch in the area, a third the rector at a nearby church, and yet a fourth, the ship captain from the previous novel is also involved. A villager also claims to be the real owner of the village and of Edward’s wealth, and has thus turned the village against them. Another young man of mysterious parentage, Julian Thrace, is resident at several houses in the area, including Stonings, the seat of the Earl of Holbrook, Freddie Vansittart, an old friend of Lord Harold Trowbridge.

It being an English village, everything is tangled up with everything else, and several more deaths are piled on that original first body found in Jane’s cottage cellar. All is untangled, and the book ends with a letter found in the recovered chest – a love letter from Lord Harold, and thus Jane’s peace returns.

This is the seventh of the Jane Austen as detective series written by Stephanie Barron, though it is only subtitled as: Being a Jane Austen Mystery. This one also involves Lord Harold Trowbridge, as several others do. And this one comes very close to a real romance, which I’m sure is / was a great relief to most of us.

Rather more violence than usual in these books – and to me all the characters seemed drawn even more strongly than usual. The Napoleonic Wars were still going on, and there had been bitter battles in Portugal. Many of the book’s characters had ties to Portugal, spies and counterspies among them. Several key and wonderful characters are lost in this book – just a trigger warning!

It is very exciting, and includes a lot that you might want to know about how duels were actually carried out. As always, an excellent book.

Still in my Jane Austen addiction, and really enjoying Stephanie Barron’s Jane Mysteries. Jane the the Prisoner of Wool House, Being the Sixth Jane Austen Mystery, is another excellent one. This time, we are in Southampton, and Jane’s brother, Frank, a post captain in the Royal Navy, is a key figure – and Wool House is where the navy keeps it prisoners. Frank’s best friend, another captain, is due to be hanged, with Frank receiving the captaincy of that ship. And a French prisoner may hold the key to his guilt or innocence.

So much great history in here – the Napoleonic wars, the colonization of India, England’s intricate class rules, and the very authentic voice of Jane as she works her way through all the intricate parts of this mystery. Plus the intricate household relationships – Jane’s mother and sister, her sister-in-law and occasional glimpses / mentions of brothers, their families, friends of rank and those without rank. And of much rowing over the ocean, with a very large amount of dampness all around.

This is a very fast paced mystery, even thought Britain’s strictures sometimes have Jane watching the clock and noting how much time she has been kept out of the action. Her mind, of course, has been going full speed ahead at all times. And all the pieces of the mystery fall into place, fairly satisfactorily.

I just finished this book – Jane and the Stillroom Maid, Being the Fifth Jane Austen Mystery, by Stephanie Barron, published in 2000. This series just keeps getting better and better. Jane has turned 30, a fact which is much on her mind, and which clearly puts her beyond the bounds of ever being married, in the culture of that time.

However, in this volume, back again is Lord Harold Trowbridge, the second son of a duke, a spy, diplomat and mediator for his country around the globe, and one of Jane’s closest friends and sleuths. Jane is very attracted to him, but realizes in her head, not her heart, that in this stratified society such an attraction would horrify most people. Jane is a lady, but not of the nobility.

This strand, and much else about the culture of the early 1800’s in England, as Napoleon raged over the continent and threatened Britain, is a big part of these mysteries. A stillroom maid, for instance, was in many ways an apothecary / druggist, working with herbs and other substances for healing and health, as well as preserving and canning vegetables and fruits. The surgeon in this part of Derbyshire is also a blacksmith – and there are many other anomalies sprinkled throughout all of this series. Which is part of what makes them all so fun.

Stephanie writes with Jane’s voice effortlessly – in thinking, in conversations, in her relationships with her mother, sister and others who come and go from book to book. And these are terrific puzzlers, with many clues to the numerous possible killers in each book. This book, for instance, brings in the Masons and their practices, whose members are drawn from the upper classes across the country. The clues point in many directions. I figured it out early, and then was distracted by all the other possibilities, and decided I was wrong. It is great to be fooled by a true master.

The Cincinnati Public Library has all these books – and so does your nearest bookstore. Go for it!

Rick Riordan, since finishing his first series, Percy (Perseus) Jackson and the Olympians, has also written the The Heroes of Olympus, based on Greek and Roman mythology, The Kane Chronicals, based on Egyptian mythology, and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, based on Norse mythology.

Demigods & Magicians brings together Percy Jackson and Annabeth of The Olympians with Sadie and Carter, kids who are magicians working with Egyptian magic and gods – including lot of animal deities.

Maybe I’ve just read this book too soon – but it really does read like a kids book – grades 5 to 8 maybe. Lots of magic, lots of amazement, lots of Egyptian lore. And yet… not much connection.

The Last Olympian, Book V and the last book in the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, is a rip roaring finish to this ‘quintilogy’ – that may be a word, or not.

Most of the characters, even a couple who have died are back, and we get to meet gods and goddesses we’ve only heard about before. Percy and Annabeth are, of course, front and center. Rachel Elizabeth Dare’s role and relationship with Percy is clarified, there are even more monsters, including Typhon, who is marching across the United States spreading devastation – while Kronos / Luke and his troops are working to take Manhattan and then Olympus. Imagine everyone in Manhattan just falling asleep where they are – well, it’s happened, and Percy, Annabeth and the other Half Bloods have to fix it.

A more-than-satisfying, actually terrific ending – and, FYI, the good guys win (using ‘guys’ generically. : >