Jane and the Genius of the Place: Being the Fourth Jane Austen Mystery

Being a Jane Austen Mystery, Book 4

By: Stephanie Barron

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

In three highly diverting mysteries, Jane Austen has shown herself a clever hand at unraveling the deadly knots woven by the unscrupulous. Now, in her latest engrossing adventure, Jane is called upon to solve a shattering crime that may begin and end in one man's heart - or encompass the fate of an entire nation.

In the waning days of summer, Jane Austen is off to the Canterbury Races, where the rich and fashionable go to gamble away their fortunes. It is an atmosphere ripe for scandal. But even Jane is unprepared for the shocking drama that ensues when a raven-haired wanton in a scarlet riding habit takes center stage. She is Françoise Grey, a flamboyant French beauty who has cast a spell over the gentlemen of Kent...and her unbridled behavior at the races invites the most scandalous speculation.

What can Mrs. Grey be thinking, Jane wonders, to so brazenly strike a gentleman with her whip? And what recklessness then spurs her to leap the rail on her fleet black horse and join the race? Only hours after Mrs. Grey has departed the race grounds in triumph will Jane realize the full import of her questions. For in a shabby chaise less than 100 feet from where Jane sat, the impossible is revealed: Mrs. Grey's lifeless body, gruesomely strangled, her ruby riding habit nowhere to be found.

As those around her rush to arrest the owner of the chaise - a known scoundrel with eyes for Françoise - Jane looks further afield to find a number of others behaving oddly, including the dashing military man caught rifling through the dead woman's desk, the widower who does not appear to be grieving, and the shy governess curiously overpowered by the horror of the Frenchwoman's death.

As rumors spread like wildfire that Napoleon's fleet is bound for Kent, Jane begins to suspect that Françoise Grey's murder was an act of war rather than a crime of passion. The peaceful fields of Kent have become a very dangerous place...and Jane's thirst for justice may exact the steepest price of all - her life.

Deliciously sinister and splendidly wrought, Jane and the Genius of the Place is a stylish puzzler that only the incomparable Jane Austen could hope to crack. And in her capable hands, the solving of it is a pleasure to watch.

©2009 Stephanie Barron (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Ms. Barron's skillful rendering of Ms. Austen's style, attuned to picking up the most delicate fluctuations in social behavior, reveals it to be an ideal vehicle for the classic cozy murder mystery. Who knew?" (The New York Times Book Review)

"There's plenty to enjoy in the crime-solving side of Jane.... [She] is as worthy a detective as Columbo." (USA Today)

"A real charmer." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Not quite as good as the rest

I must admit that I didn't like this story as much as the first three. Something happens early in the story that I immediately understood and it annoyed me throughout the rest of the story that Jane at least didn't understand its significance. In fact, I don't think she ever figured it out. Another character revealed it. I think the rest of the story was very interesting. In the first three stories, on second listen, I heard a lot of clues that it thought "very cleverly hidden", but this one had none of those.

Still, I'm being unnecessarily harsh. It wasn't a terrible story, just not as good as the rest.