Book
Jane and the stillroom maid : being the fifth Jane Austen mystery
Record details
- ISBN: 9780553107340 (hc.)
- ISBN: 9780553578379 (pbk.)
- ISBN: 0553578375 (pbk.)
- ISBN: 0553107348 (hc.)
-
Physical Description:
print
viii, 277 p. ; 23 cm. - Publisher: New York : Bantam Books, c2000, 2001.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | "Being the fifth Jane Austen mystery." |
Search for related items by subject
| Genre: | Historical fiction. Mystery fiction. |
Search for related items by series
Available copies
- 3 of 3 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 3 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creston Public Library | MYS BAR (Text)
Acquisition Type: Donated |
35140001194359 | Mystery | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Dawson Creek Municipal Public Library | MYSTERY PB (Text) | DCL090065 | Adult paperbacks | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Terrace Public Library | Pb Bar (Text) | 35151000006668 | Adult Paperbacks | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - #1 May 2000
Jane Austen's fifth venture into sleuthing finds her visiting relatives in Derbyshire. While walking in the hills, she discovers the body of Tess Arnold, a servant at a local estate who is known for her skill as an herbalist. As in Austen's novels, the relationships are complex and full of suppressed passion. Why was Tess suspected of witchcraft? What was her relationship to the duke's family? What do the Freemasons have to do with the case? Jane's keen perception and her curiosity may turn her into the killer's next victim. Readers who enjoy a trip through the late-eighteenth-century English countryside will find Jane's new adventure very appealing. ((Reviewed May 1, 2000))Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2000 June #1
Nominally under the protection of her hymn-singing, trout-fishing, sycophantic cousin Edward Cooper, Jane Austen visits the Derbyshire Peak District in her fifth outing (Jane and the Genius of the Place, 1999, etc.) In this social comedy gone terribly wrong, Jane can't take a lone ramble in the hills without stumbling across a disemboweled young "man"-who turns out to be Tess Arnold, stillroom maid at a nearby estate. Has the victim been accidentally mistaken for the country apothecary, sometimes thought a witch? Or was she blackmailing aristocrats with unseemly secrets? Why is she in those male clothes? And why does her carved-up body seem to illustrate the Masonic ritual for executing traitors? Jane's aristocratic connection, gentleman rogue Lord Harold Trowbridge, turns up at the estate next door, mourning its recently deceased hostess, the colorful Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. His presence keeps Jane alert to possible connections between the late maid and Georgiana's politically powerful Whig Cavendish family-and a good thing, since he's too besotted with Georgiana's daughter, Lady Harriot, to see much else. Only Jane can work through the web of domestic intrigue woven around Tess Arnold. Cryptic though it is, Tess's stillroom journal supplies all the clues Jane needs to unravel the multiply intermeshed mysteries. Now that she's rebutted years of condescending descriptions of Austen's life as placid and uneventful, Barron writes with greater assurance than ever, and her heroine's sleuthing is more confident and accomplished-even if she's still unwisely pining for the unworthy Trowbridge. Copyright 2000 Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2000 June #1
Fifth in Barron's Jane Austen mystery series, this work bears all the wonderful trademarks of the earlier titles, including period detail, measured but often sardonic wit, and authenticity. More blatantly here than in the previous novels, readers can see Jane's mother as the source of oh-so-silly Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice; and Pemberley, Darcy's home, emerges from Chatsworth, seat of the Dukes of Devonshire. Once again, Jane's friend (would that he were more) Lord Harold is on the scene as suspicion is cast on old friends when a stillroom maid (a young woman who concocted and sold remedies) is murdered. There are numerous red herrings and cliffhangers, though the denouement is unsurprising, but the pacing and tenor make this enjoyable. For fans of Austen and carefully paced historical mysteries. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2000 July #3
Jane Austen as sleuth continues to delight in her latest adventure (after Jane and the Genius of the Place), which sheds new light on the author's travels in 1806. While enjoying a ramble in the Derbyshire hills near Bakewell (a town Eliza Bennett visits in Pride and Prejudice), Jane discovers the mutilated body of a young man. Jane's suspicions are roused when her escort, Mr. George Hemming, prefers to remove the unidentified corpse to Buxton, rather than Bakewell, and they increase when the body proves to be that of a woman dressed in men's clothing. Moreover, the corpse is identified as Tess Arnold, a servant at one of the area's great houses, whom Mr. Hemming should have recognized. As the compounder of stillroom remedies, Tess had a reputation as a healer, until accused of witchcraft. Rumors of ritual murder by Freemasons who include most of the neighboring gentry excite the local populace and jeopardize the investigation of the justice of the peace, himself a Mason. When Mr. Hemming disappears before the inquest, Jane and the justice turn for help to Lord Harold Trowbridge, a guest at the nearby ducal house of Chatsworth. Barron catches Austen's tone amazingly well. Details of early 19th-century country life of all classes ring true, while the story line is clear, yet full of surprises. The "editor's notes" that punctuate the text and old cures for various ills that open each chapter add to the charm. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. - School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 2001 March
Adult/High School-In this fifth Jane Austen mystery, Jane's cousin, Mr. Edward Cooper, rector of Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire, takes her, her mother, and sister to the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire. He is an avid fisher-man and Jane is an avid walker. The bucolic English countryside and bubbling streams seem to be a perfect fit for them-until Jane finds a body in the hills. The victim has been shot in the head and mutilated and, although dressed as a man, is actually a beautiful still-room maid, Tess Arnold. The story is com-plex and another death follows. Lord Harold Trowbridge is staying in the area and per-suades Jane to accompany him to various so-cial functions and use her investigative skills and interest in the case. The protagonist is at her analytical best, and her fans will love this story. Twists and turns abound and the killer is so evil that readers will never suspect who and why it is until the very end. Austen makes a fine sleuth even if she is quite smitten with the debonair Lord Trowbridge.-Linda A. Vretos, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
