Jane and the Ghosts of Netley

Rating:
Summary: Ridiculous
Review: Apparently the author hopes to create some excitement by turning Ms Austen into a cross between Nancy Drew and Forrest Gump. Just doesn't work. She should go back to writing contemporary murder mysteries under the name Francine Matthews. She did that much better.

Rating:
Summary: Ridiculous
Review: Apparently the author hopes to create some excitement by turning Ms Austen into a cross between Nancy Drew and Forrest Gump. Just doesn't work. She should go back to writing contemporary murder mysteries under the name Francine Matthews. She did that much better.

Rating:
Summary: Barron delivers!
Review: I have been waiting (impatiently) for two years for the next book in the Jane Austen mystery series. The Ghosts of Netley does not disappoint! Barron fans will be engrossed in this page-turner with its smart dialogue and clever intrigues. Warning: have box of tissues ready as you near the end. My only complaint is the abrupt ending leaves us having to face the torture of waiting a year or two for the story to pick up again. Stephanie, please don't let us wait so long!

Rating:
Summary: This Book is soooo GREAT!
Review: I loved this installment of the Jane Austen Mystery Series. I cried at the end!

Rating:
Summary: Barron delivers!
Review: It has been over two years since Jane Austen has last seen Lord Harold Trowbridge, the second son of the fifth duke of Wilborugh. Most of the realm sees him as a rakehell and a rogue, but Jane knows that is his public persona. Behind the scenes he works for the government as a spymaster looking for ways to defeat Napoleon. In 1808 in the port town of Southampton, Lord Harold asks Jane to spy upon the new woman into town.

Sophia Challoner, a woman he believes is a spy for Napoleon, left the besieged town of Oporto, Portugal to reside in Netley Lodge. While Jane watches the home, someone sets fire to the docks and the new ship that was ready to be put to sea. While Harold thinks the culprit is one of Sophia's agents, Jane isn't so sure because she has come to know and like the woman. When a local servant is killed, someone sets up Harold to take the blame. Before a jury can judge his guilt, Harold's servant, who is supposed to give evidence diappears and he is afraid that his valet is Sophia's latest victim.

Fans of historical novels, Regency readers and espionage thriller buffs are going to find JANE AND THE GHOSTS OF NETLEY very much to their taste as the heroine finally acknowledges her true feelings for the Duke's son while readers see why Harold might reciprocate. She is an independent free thinker who doesn't always play by society's rules. The first person narrative allows the audience to understand how the heroine feels about the restrictions placed upon women and how she gently maneuvers events to do what she wants. Stephanie Barron has written an exciting cerebral mystery thriller that will keep readers turning the pages until they uncover the identity of the spy.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful historical mystery
Review: It has been over two years since Jane Austen has last seen Lord Harold Trowbridge, the second son of the fifth duke of Wilborugh. Most of the realm sees him as a rakehell and a rogue, but Jane knows that is his public persona. Behind the scenes he works for the government as a spymaster looking for ways to defeat Napoleon. In 1808 in the port town of Southampton, Lord Harold asks Jane to spy upon the new woman into town.

Sophia Challoner, a woman he believes is a spy for Napoleon, left the besieged town of Oporto, Portugal to reside in Netley Lodge. While Jane watches the home, someone sets fire to the docks and the new ship that was ready to be put to sea. While Harold thinks the culprit is one of Sophia's agents, Jane isn't so sure because she has come to know and like the woman. When a local servant is killed, someone sets up Harold to take the blame. Before a jury can judge his guilt, Harold's servant, who is supposed to give evidence diappears and he is afraid that his valet is Sophia's latest victim.

Fans of historical novels, Regency readers and espionage thriller buffs are going to find JANE AND THE GHOSTS OF NETLEY very much to their taste as the heroine finally acknowledges her true feelings for the Duke's son while readers see why Harold might reciprocate. She is an independent free thinker who doesn't always play by society's rules. The first person narrative allows the audience to understand how the heroine feels about the restrictions placed upon women and how she gently maneuvers events to do what she wants. Stephanie Barron has written an exciting cerebral mystery thriller that will keep readers turning the pages until they uncover the identity of the spy.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: a riveting read
Review: It should have been a time of mourning and private grief for Jane Austen as she contemplates the recent death of her beloved sister-in-law, Elizabeth. But it can hardly be that, not when Sir Henry Towbridge, one of England's most trusted of advisors and her own Gentleman Rogue, bursts in on her life again with a tale of betrayal, treachery and intrigue.

Sir Harold has but recently returned from Oporto (in Portugal), where he made the acquittance of (and became quite smitten with) a beautiful, rich widow, Sophia Challoner. Sir Harold now firmly believes that Sophia is actually a French agent and that she has some evil and dastardly plan up her sleeve that she means to carry out now that she's installed herself at Netley Lodge in Southampton. Because he's well known to the lady, Sir Harold wants Jane to keep an eye Sophia, to note all her comings and goings as well as who all her visitors are. Fortunately for Jane, a fortuitous turn of events brings her to Sophia's notice, and the two strike up a friendship. But the more time Jane spends with Sophia, the more she begins to wonder about Sir Harold's allegations against Sophia. Is she the treacherous and heartless spy Sir Harold believes her to be? Or could Sir Harold be wrong about Sophia? As acts of sabotage and murder begin to mount, Jane finds herself torn between her two friends and not at all sure what she should do...

While a lot of the novel did focus on the question as to whether or not Sophia Challoner was a treacherous French spy, the authour did take great care to pepper her mystery-intrigue plot with plenty of other suspects, several likely scenarios as to what was really going on, as well as a few rather interesting plot twists, in order to keep things humming and the reader guessing. Told with plenty of interesting historical facts and gossipy tidbits, and in a prose style that managed to be authentic without seeming anachronistic, I thoroughly enjoyed "Jane and the Ghosts of Netley" and had to finish it in one sitting. "Jane and the Ghosts of Netley" proved to be truly riveting reading.

Rating:
Summary: Emotional Jolt
Review: Jane Austen is back in her seventh crime-solving adventure. Lord Harold Trowridge, the man of Jane's heart, calls on Jane to help seek out a traitor to the crown. She must befriend a beautiful widow with rumored ties to Bonaparte. Once Jane makes Sophia Challoner's acquaintance, it is hard for Jane to conceive that Sophia has anything to do with the murder and mayhem that is taking place in and about Netley Lodge.

Stephanie Barron has made Jane a likable and clever heroine that chafes against the rules of society that bind her. Jane is still writing her novels, but there is little evidence of it in this story. Jane is too busy hunting for traitors to actually write. Barron evokes the Regency time period nicely, interspersing historical facts throughout the book. Many facts are highlighted as footnotes on the page they appear. Barron writes these stories in a style similar to the writing of the Regency period further bringing in an authentic sense of time and place. There are deft twists throughout this well-plotted book, and a very moving, poignant ending to the story.

Rating:
Summary: Well -researched historical mystery
Review: Jane Austen is back in her seventh crime-solving adventure. Lord Harold Trowridge, the man of Jane's heart, calls on Jane to help seek out a traitor to the crown. She must befriend a beautiful widow with rumored ties to Bonaparte. Once Jane makes Sophia Challoner's acquaintance, it is hard for Jane to conceive that Sophia has anything to do with the murder and mayhem that is taking place in and about Netley Lodge.

Stephanie Barron has made Jane a likable and clever heroine that chafes against the rules of society that bind her. Jane is still writing her novels, but there is little evidence of it in this story. Jane is too busy hunting for traitors to actually write. Barron evokes the Regency time period nicely, interspersing historical facts throughout the book. Many facts are highlighted as footnotes on the page they appear. Barron writes these stories in a style similar to the writing of the Regency period further bringing in an authentic sense of time and place. There are deft twists throughout this well-plotted book, and a very moving, poignant ending to the story.

Rating:
Summary: Jane and the Ghosts of Netley
Review: Not since the third book, Jane and the Wandering Eye have I been so taken with a Jane Austen Mystery. I read it in one day & now, having finished it, I am to put it in Austen terms, "distraught" by the ending. Unless Ms. Barron inteads to use soap opera theatrics to resurrect the dead I cannot see how her next book can be nearly as engaging. I will, nevertheless, anxiously await it's debut.