Stephanie Barron, Jane and the Barque of Frailty

Jane and the Barque of Frailty

Stephanie Barron

Bantam, December 2006, $24.60, 304 pp.

ISBN 0553802217

In 1811, Jane Austen is staying with her brother and his wife Eliza because her sibling is helping her get her first book published; Sense and Sensibility. They are at the theatre when Jane notices the Russian Princess Evgenia Tshoikova staring at Lord Castlereagh throughout the show. The next day she reads in the newspaper that the princess was found murdered with her throat cut, on Lord Castlereagh's steps. Eliza's friend the Comtesse d'Entraigues whose husband is divorcing her to marry a Cyprian asks her to sell her jewels.

Eliza convinces Jane to pretend to own the jewels to fool jewelry buyer Mr. Rundell, so the Comtesse will not be embarrassed. Rundell keeps the jewels to appraise them, and the next thing they know, Jane and Eliza are accused of stealing the Russian Princess's jewels, who they really belong to, and that they killed her to get them. Jane convinces the Bow Street Runners to free them so they can find the killer so that justice will be served, and so the real murderer will be imprisoned.

Stephanie Barron has written an exciting Regency historical mystery that gives the reader a glimpse of the dark side of the ton. From nobles to politicians, people will obfuscate the truth to hide their own peccadilloes. Jane dives into the investigation to prove her innocence, and to spare her sister in law and brother any trauma. Historical mystery readers will love this tale.