Jane Austen, who wrote six novels, died in 1817, but you wouldn’t know it. In the past few years, there have been Austen claimants writing about zombies and vampires and book clubs. And then there’s Stephanie Barron, the Denver author of the Jane Austen mysteries, whose writing is so joyous and clever and entertaining that it might have been written by the great Austen herself.
Barron’s 10th Austen mystery is “Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron,” a story of Jane’s encounter with the charismatic author of “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” and other poems, who both attracts and repels her.
The wife of Jane’s brother Henry, has just died, so Jane takes the grieving widower off to Brighton for a change of scenery. On the way, the brother and sister rescue a young girl, Catherine Twining, who has been kidnapped, trussed-up and left in a carriage, while her abductor, none other than that satyr George Gordon, Lord Byron, stops at an inn for a bit of refreshment.
Jane and Henry carry poor Catherine back to her father in Brighton, where they vouch for her virginal state, but Catherine’s brutal father blames the girl, as well as her rescuers — not much of a thanks. Later, Jane sees Catherine fight off the advances of another aging swain.
Once in Brighton, Jane encounters Lady Desdemona, countess of Swithin, a friend of years earlier and the niece of Sir Harold Trowbridge, the secret love of Jane’s life. Sir Harold, you may recall, was offed by Barron a few books back. Jane still pines for him, however, and when Catherine is a victim of foul murder, Jane wishes Sir Harold were around to help her solve the case.
His niece Desdemona persuades Jane to find the killer, remarking that her uncle had confided to her how much he enjoyed solving mysteries with Jane. That — and Jane’s brother Henry’s encouragement — are enough to send the genteel sleuth off in search of justice.
This is a story that Austen herself would have loved. There is no shortage of villains, from Lord Byron, who is arrested for the deed, to the Reagent himself. And the subplots with scheming women and ambitious men are the stuff of the real Austen’s novels.
Best of all is the portrayal of Lord Byron, an arrogant but mysteriously compelling man who has women swooning. They include Lady Oxford, his aging patron, and Lady Carolyn Lamb, whose comic pursuit of Byron is obsessive.
Even Jane is susceptible to Lord Byron’s charm when she learns he has discovered that she is the secret author of the best-seller everyone in Brighton is talking about, “Pride and Prejudice.”
What makes Barron’s Jane Austen series — and her stand-alone novels, “The White Garden” and “A Flaw in the Blood,” so authentic is their sense of time and place.
Barron produces dialogue that is contemporary to the early 19th century without becoming dialect, and her details of Brighton and its festivities ring true. Just keeping up with the names and titles of her characters must be daunting for the author. And Barron is not even English. She lives in Denver and writes thrillers under the name Francine Matthews.
Next to Austen herself, Barron is as good as it gets — and maybe better, because with 10 books to Austen’s six, Barron is more prolific.
Sandra Dallas is a Denver novelist.
FICTION
Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron, by Stephanie Barron, $15
