Rating: 
Summary: THIRD JANE AUSTEN MYSTERY BEST SO FAR!!!
Review: "Jane and the Wandering Eye" by Stephanie Barron is a book worthy of the highest praise. It's devious fiendishly clever, keeping the reader on their toes until the final, surprising ending. A sign of a good mystery is the element of surprise, yet total plausibility in the ending, and "The Wandering Eye" delivers with great panache. This mystery is well written and should please Jane Austen and mystery affecianatos alike. A very, very, very enthusiastic five stars!!
Rating:
Summary: Better as they go
Review: 'Jane and the Wandering Eye' is the third novel in Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen as detective series; and she merely improves each time upon an ingenious and highly likely concept, as our favorite author plays sleuth to high-profile murders and crimes. Barron has realistically recreated Austen's time period, playing the editor to Jane's "found" diaries that record these events, and peppering her narrative with footnotes that inform the reader about Austen's day.
With the third book of the series, Barron has improved upon her style. At times it almost seems a bit of a stretch to capture the language used in Austen's day, but Barron is comfortable in Jane's mindset. She does the author justice in thought and deed - one can very easily imagine Jane adventuring to discover the twists and turns of the mysteries that fill Barron's pages. And if there is a slight resemblance to some of Austen's published novels, well, we know when the idea/observation struck her.
The third book introduces us to a murder mystery, filled with numerous twists and turns. Once again we find Jane in the companionship of Lord Harold Trowbridge, as they try to solve a mystery that was committed at his mother's house and that throws suspicion on his family, as well as on various suitors who would claim his niece's hand in marriage. Together, Lord Harold and Jane uncover the murderer while the law remains impotent to do so. I very much look forward to whatever mischief she may set her sights upon in book four.
Rating: 
Summary: A big let-down
Review: After a friend's strong recommendation, and given my Jane Austen mania, I was greatly looking forward to this novel, the only one of the series I have read. I was greatly disappointed. The plot was rather interesting, and Barron presents 18th century English social life convincingly, though with an irritating profusion of footnotes. But my favorite feature of Austen's work is her understated, nuanced, frequently comic style. Several reviewers apparently believe that Barron has "faithfully reproduce(d)" Austen's style. I couldn't disagree more. Stilted language and cumbersome sentence structure do not Austenian style make. (You can see I know what I'm talking about!) Here's a typical example (p. 129 of the hardback): "That's all very well, my lord," Mr. Elliot interjected benignly, "but you cannot prove the lady guilty without you extract a confession. And the use of the passage does nothing to advance your scheme regarding the open carriage." Interjected benignly? Without you extract? Austen would never be so heavy-handed in characterization, not to mention clumsy in phrasing. Though I certainly didn't expect from this book the brilliance of Austen, I was amazed to find such stilted, unevocative language described as Austenesque. The main readers of this series are likely to be fans of Austen, and as such, are likely to be sorry they spent their time and money here.
Rating: 
Summary: The Return of Lord Harold!
Review: Barron turns in another fine mystery with a good imitation of the Austen style and voice. I especially enjoyed this installment because I had recently seen a discussion of "lover's eyes" on Antiques Roadshow and knew a fair amount about them. Barron's use of the theatre set in this book is also quite entertaining. I do think that some of the elements of Barron's mystery writing could be sharper and more cunningly crafted, but the fine characters and the excellent handling of nineteenth-century English culture keep the novel interesting from start to finish. Of course, the return of Lord Harold Trowbridge is the highlight of the book!
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but NOT Jane Austen
Review: I agree with Ms. Hurdle that the books are not up to the Austen standard in terms of irony. The bigger problem I have, though, is the character of Jane Austen. It does not convey a tenth of her biting humor or intelligence. But still, the books are fun to read as purely period pieces and for recognizing the characters from Austen's real life and fiction pop up in them.
Rating:
Summary: an enjoyable addition to the series
Review: I enjoy these Jane Austen-as-sleuth novels. Author Stephanie Barron is a fine writer who emulates Austen's elegant prose style with success. This third installment of the series takes place in 1804 Bath, where Jane's family has moved, in part to accommodate father George's declining health, and Jane dislikes intensely living in a place of such "dissipation". A murder has occurred during a fancy dress party Jane attends, and she is drawn into the mystery by her old friend, Lord Harold Trowbridge.I had some minor quibbles with the book -- Austen's renowned wit is missing, too many characters (in costumes, no less!) and relationships make the plot confusing -- but in general I enjoyed this book very much, and appreciate the opportunity to spend time with our beloved Jane as the author deftly weaves historical and biographical facts into her story. Personally I enjoy the footnotes, which are infrequent, informative and not at all intrusive.
Rating:
Summary: an enjoyable addition to the series
Review: I enjoy these Jane Austen-as-sleuth novels. Author Stephanie Barron is a fine writer who emulates Austen's elegant prose style with success. This third installment of the series takes place in 1804 Bath, where Jane's family has moved, in part to accommodate father George's declining health, and Jane dislikes intensely living in a place of such "dissipation". A murder has occurred during a fancy dress party Jane attends, and she is drawn into the mystery by her old friend, Lord Harold Trowbridge. I had some minor quibbles with the book -- Austen's renowned wit is missing, too many characters (in costumes, no less!) and relationships make the plot confusing -- but in general I enjoyed this book very much, and appreciate the opportunity to spend time with our beloved Jane as the author deftly weaves historical and biographical facts into her story. Personally I enjoy the footnotes, which are infrequent, informative and not at all intrusive.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent--Jane in society
Review: I liked this addition to this series of books very much. This is probably the most "social" of these books--Jane is very much part of the larger society of Bath (which constrains and enervates her.) The development of Jane's relationship with Sir Harold and his family is central to this novel, and for really the only time in this series there are some visible stresses between Jane's independence and her family's concern for how things look.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent--Jane in society
Review: I liked this addition to this series of books very much. This is probably the most "social" of these books--Jane is very much part of the larger society of Bath (which constrains and enervates her.) The development of Jane's relationship with Sir Harold and his family is central to this novel, and for really the only time in this series there are some visible stresses between Jane's independence and her family's concern for how things look.
Rating:
Summary: It is Jane Austen, like it or not
Review: I read other reviews of this book which claim that Miss Barron's work does not seem like Jane Austen, but I assure you, she captures the style almost too well. I have never enjoyed classics. I admit that Sense and Sensibility gave me headaches and I will probably never finish Pride and Prejudice. But this book is impressive with its style of writing and intimate knowledge of the time. I actually believe this book to be the best in the series (I love Lord Harold, and this one has his biggest part--I have not read the 5th, I'm waiting for the paperback). If you like Jane Austen, you will probably enjoy it. And...you might not, simply because you'd be unwilling to accept that someone else can write with her same mastery.
|
