Wednesday Book Review by Jess

Jane and the Barque of Frailty
by Stephanie Barron

Review by Jess

I examined 6 aisles of books at the library before I found something to borrow, and I could hardly believe my luck: Jane Austen solves crimes! Regency murder mystery!

I knew it would be disappointing because the premise, as exciting as it is to me, is totally implausible. It's like the movie Becoming Jane - you have to forget that it's about Jane Austen, and enjoy someone else with the same name being fickle and clueless and eloping (like silly Lydia Bennet) with James McAvoy (well, perhaps I forgive her). In this case, she's associating with spies and high-class prostitutes. That's unlikely. So you have to put disbelief aside and enjoy it for what it is: Jane Austen solves crimes!!!

It starts surprisingly well, because the author is pretty good at mimicking the language of JA books. The shape of the sentences, little expressions like "I schooled my face to a smile" make it interesting and seem quite authentic. Then she gets a bit carried away with the slang, so one sentence will have 3 different words for drunkenness, which is awkward. But I now know a lot of different names for debt, status, bosoms and prostitutes. (One of the latter is 'Barque of Frailty'.)

The characters have some good names, in the Dickens style, where the names are sort of made-up but descriptive. Chizzlewit is a friendly solicitor. Skroggs is a brute of a law-enforcer. Some characters are based on real people, real spies and politicians. I don't like it when authors take liberties with real dead people, and I think she crosses the line a little — not just with Jane, which is a given in this case.

The plot is based around the murder of a Russian princess. I figured out who must have done it around halfway through the book, at the second clue. (Spoiler, possibly:) It was basically the butler. But then in the end… maybe he didn't, maybe it was all a nothing. Unresolved mysteries are annoying.

It was moderately enjoyable, but I probably won't read any more in the series. Too much Jane Austen para-literature makes me feel soiled.

Thanks Jess! Go check out Jess' cool blogs, Jelssie and The Thought Tree.