Publication: 24th October 2023 – Soho Crime
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.
Truly excited to take part in the blog tour for Jane and the Final Mystery, the latest fantastic novel by Stephanie Barron.
Set in 1817, Jane and the Final Mystery sees my all-time favorite author in the last year of her life solving a murder and proving a young man’s innocence while her health keeps declining.
In Chawton, the Austen’s family receives the news of Uncle James’ death and while her brothers and sister go to the funeral and the reading of the will, Jane remains home with her mother. But when her nephew Edward informs her of a death at Winchester College, his former school, involving the son of her close friend Elizabeth, Jane decides to investigate, but not everyone in the school is eager to talk and many are keeping secrets.
Unfortunately, I discovered this series only recently and I haven’t read the previous books (yet!), but it can easily be read as a stand-alone and I am certainly planning to read all fourteen other books because I love how the author brings Jane Austen to life, making her feel real and authentic and perfectly mixing real-life facts, characters, and locations with a murder mystery.
The story is very well-written and well-paced with a captivating plot and the evocative and intriguing setting of Winchester. The mystery is suspenseful: Jane is convinced of her friend’s son’s innocence and she intends to prove it, using her determination and her wit, and she doesn’t let her illness slow her down.
Jane and the Final Mystery is truly an entertaining and immersive story, perfect for all Jane Austen fans, but also those who love a good and well-drafted mystery. I am sorry that this is the final book in the series, but I am really excited to read the entire series. Highly recommended!
A huge thank you to Austenprose and Soho Press for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and providing me with a proof of this brilliant novel.
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.
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PRAISE FOR JANE AND THE FINAL MYSTERY
“Poignant . . . Elicits deep emotion out of Jane’s struggles against her own mortality. This is a fitting send-off for a beautifully realized series.”— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Barron developed Jane’s narrative voice by reading Austen’s collected and published letters, and it is neither spoiler nor surprise to say that series readers will be sorry to say goodbye to Jane Austen, amateur sleuth.”— Booklist
“[Barron] has brilliantly combined authentic historical and biographical details with skillful plotting and a credible evocation of Austen’s wry, distinctive voice. She brings the English author’s final investigation to a poignant, unforgettable close. Fans of this historical series will not be disappointed.”— First Clue
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