Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I absolutely loved this book. It was a compact story without any unnecessary descriptions of things that did not matter just to make the story longer. The creative decision to turn Jane Austen into a pseudo “detective” worked very well. The author used a slightly simplified version of the writing style Austen herself used to write in, which takes a few pages to get used to, but added only to the intrigue of the story as Jane narrates the story through diary entries. The editor’s notes at the end of each chapter explaining customs and lifestyle of the 1800’s was a nice touch.
As a detective story it was very well written and kept me guessing who the murder is until the last chapter (and I usually have an idea about halfway through any murder mystery).
