Thanks to Austen Prose, NetGalley, Soho Press, and Stephanie Barron for this opportunity! This book will be available 10/24/23!
Okay wow, with the publication of this novel (the FIFTEENTH) in this series, it is truly an end of an era. Did you know that the first book in Barron’s Jane Austen Mystery series was published in 1996?? Amazing. I’ll admit, I’ve only read the first 6 books in this series (I will be continuing) and I have loved every single one.
While it is helpful for context, it is not necessary to read all of the books in the series, or even in order, to enjoy “Jane and the Final Mystery.” Barron does a BRILLIANT job of researching and since the first book, I have been struck with how much it feels like it is actually Jane Austen narrating these stories. I will say, I guessed the “whodunnit” fairly early and easily, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of this mystery. I think what most affecting me while reading was knowing this was truly the end–Jane’s illness is clearly getting the better of her in this novel, and the reader has a distinct sense that even though she is fighting, her life is quickly coming to an end. As always, I love her voice, her intrepid spirit, and her love for her family and friends.
I am saddened, of course, that this series has come to an end, but I am grateful that I still have books that I haven’t yet read! Even when I have read them all, this is definitely a series that I will happily revisit. I recommend this for lovers of mysteries, historical mysteries, and obviously, Jane Austen!
Purchase Links!
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | PUBLISHER | BOOKSHOP | GOODREADS
Book Synopsis
The final volume of the critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Jane Austen as amateur sleuth
March 1817: As winter turns to spring, Jane Austen’s health is in slow decline, and threatens to cease progress on her latest manuscript. But when her nephew Edward brings chilling news of a death at his former school, Winchester College, not even her debilitating ailment can keep Jane from seeking out the truth. Arthur Prendergast, a senior pupil at the prestigious all-boys’ boarding school, has been found dead in a culvert near the schoolgrounds—and in the pocket of his drenched waistcoat is an incriminating note penned by the young William Heathcote, the son of Jane’s dear friend Elizabeth. Winchester College is a world unto itself, with its own language and rites of passage, cruel hazing and dangerous pranks. Can Jane clear William’s name before her illness gets the better of her?
Over the course of fourteen previous novels in the critically acclaimed Being a Jane Austen Mystery series, Stephanie Barron has won the hearts of thousands of fans—crime fiction aficionados and Janeites alike—with her tricky plotting and breathtaking evocation of Austen’s voice. Now, she brings Jane’s final season—and final murder investigation—to brilliant, poignant life in this unforgettable conclusion.
AUTHOR BIO
Stephanie Barron is a graduate of Princeton and Stanford, where she received her Masters in History as an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow in the Humanities. Her novel, THAT CHURCHILL WOMAN (Ballantine, January 22, 2019) traces the turbulent career of Jennie Jerome, Winston Churchill’s captivating American mother. Barron is perhaps best known for the critically acclaimed Jane Austen Mystery Series, in which the intrepid and witty author of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE details her secret detective career in Regency England. A former intelligence analyst for the CIA, Stephanie—who also writes under the name Francine Mathews—drew on her experience in the field of espionage for such novels as JACK 1939, which The New Yorker described as “the most deliciously high-concept thriller imaginable.” She lives and works in Denver, CO.
The Bookish Bird 