Jane and the Final Mystery by Stephanie Barron
What's It About?
Stephanie Barron's careful plotting is backed by heartfelt passion and respect for the source subject, as well as a tremendous amount of research involving frequent re-reading of the six novels and letters collected up from Austen’s voluminous correspondence.Author Francine Stephanie Barron Mathews pens best-selling novels in contemporary settings as Francine Mathews and in historical fiction as Stephanie Barron, her middle and maiden names. Francine Mathews’ first novel, published 30 years ago, began with what developed into a series of six mysteries set in New England featuring police officer protagonist Meredith “Merry” Folger.
Later she wrote about a protagonist named Caroline Carmichael in two espionage thrillers inspired by her years employed with the CIA as an intelligence agent as well as four unconnected novels. During these same three decades, writing as Stephanie Barron, she has inhabited the rigidly stratified Regency England world of Jane Austen, richly imagining this illustrious author as an amateur detective.
The Regency era in British history is generally loosely described as spanning 1795-1837 ending with the ascension of Queen Victoria to the Throne. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor was published to great acclaim in 1996 followed by fourteen other novels in this engrossing series. Sadly for her fans, the most recently published mystery Jane and the Final Mystery, is set in 1817, coinciding with Jane Austen’s untimely death at age 41.
Historical Fiction Dives into the World of Jane Austen
Stephanie Barron has brilliantly maintained the conceit that the Jane Austen novels are based on lost diaries. She seemingly invokes and channels her spirits to conjure up and spin the tales, consistently producing fine works of historical fiction. These novels meet with the approval of the staunchest fans of the “founding mother of Regency Romance novels” and satisfy readers familiar only with Jane Austen from film and television productions. Such heresy!
Her voice is heard clearly with the vocabulary and phrasing consistent with the era and maintained throughout. The careful plotting is backed by heartfelt passion and respect for the source subject and a tremendous amount of research involving frequent re-reading of the six novels and letters collected up from Austen’s voluminous correspondence. Stephanie Barron annotates her mysteries with footnote references to sources including her use of contemporaneous archival and biographical materials, dissertations and analyses of past and ongoing studies of the author’s work and life.
Jane and the Final Mystery begins on an early spring day in March, 1817 when winter’s icy gloom has given way to the promise of early flowers budding in gardens with warm breezes thawing frozen fingers. Jane Austen’s health, never robust, is declining yet she pushes herself to come to the aid of her dear friend Elizabeth Heathcote’s 15-year-old son William, a student at Winchester College, who is incriminated in the murder of a senior pupil.
Winchester College, located in Hampshire, founded in 1382, is one of the oldest and most exclusive public schools (fee paying boarding schools) in England preparing boys for higher education at Oxford University. Formerly boys as young as 10 years of age were enrolled but in modern times the age range is 13-18 and coed in the older grades. Nine of Jane Austen’s nephews attended Winchester College. While the education was considered to be superior, public or boarding schools were the often sites for hazing and more frightful abuses, psychological, physical and sexual with senior students preying upon younger students, treating them as lackeys and servants.
William Heathcote was singled out for further humiliation because of a speech impediment which he has been diligently working with a female tutor to cure. He stutters and when anxious, it worsens to make his speech nearly incomprehensible prompting some family members, faculty and fellow students to dismiss him as stupid, even imbecilic while overlooking his keen intelligence evidenced by his writing ability.
Arthur Prendergast, a senior boy and one of the ringleaders of his tormentors is found dead in a culvert near the school grounds with a note from William in his pocket. Solving the case is challenging and physically exhausting but Jane Austen sets her writing of The Brokers aside to investigate. (She had completed 11 chapters of the novel later renamed Sanditon.)
Freethinking, Determined Women in Austen Canon
Regency English women lacked the most basic legal and economic rights we take for granted. They could not vote, hold public office, serve on juries, sue or even testify in court, attend universities or receive custody of their children when a marriage failed. Widows as well as single women could own property but only until marriage when it passed directly to their husband.
Under these strictures, the best a woman could aspire to was mastering the etiquette, manners and social graces of genteel society allowing her to marry a suitable husband who would provide for her and their offspring. The best marriages were those benefiting her extended family.
Jane Austen’s protagonists were freethinkers; determined women who often defied conventions, including the rejection of unsuitable marriages arranged for them. In the Austen canon of six literary and revolutionary romance novels heroines steadfastly would only marry for love.
Although long regarded as one of England’s foremost novelists, she was never publicly acknowledged as a writer during her lifetime nor was her occupation carved into her gravestone in Winchester Cathedral. Sense and Sensibility, began in 1795 when Jane was 19 years old and published in 1811 by Thomas Egerton after she agreed to pay for its printing and advertising and an exploitative commission for the publisher. She prudently retained the copyright and was pleased when every copy of “a novel in three volumes, by a Lady” sold and brought her a profit of 140 pounds. Egerton also published Pride and Prejudice in 1813.
Cassandra Austen, an amateur watercolorist, by three years elder sister and best friend was her heir. The hundred-plus surviving letters from Jane to Cassandra continue to be an invaluable resource to historians and scholars.
The Final Installment of the Jane Austen Mysteries
If the relatively provincial Jane Austen were to return for a day, what might she think about her enormous worldwide popularity with millions of fans? It’s unlikely she could have in her wildest dreams imagined there would be a worldwide organization dedicated to her life and works. JASNA, founded in 1979, is the largest literary society devoted to Jane Austen and boasts many prominent members. Authors and educators including Stephanie Barron, Andrea Kayne and Alexander McCall Smith have been keynote or featured speakers.
The following information is from their home page: “The Jane Austen Society of North America is dedicated to the enjoyment and appreciation of Jane Austen and her writing. JASNA is a nonprofit organization, staffed by volunteers, whose mission is to foster among the widest number of readers the study, appreciation, and understanding of Jane Austen’s works, her life, and her genius. We have over 5,000 members of all ages and from diverse walks of life. Although most live in the United States or Canada, we also have members in more than a dozen other countries.” Their website is a gem-filled treasure trove.
Stephanie Barron may have completed her series of Jane Austen mysteries with Jane and the Final Mystery but we can look forward to more engaging stories under this name or that of Francine Matthews.
About Stephanie Barron:
Stephanie Barron was born in Binghamton, New York, the last of six girls. She attended Princeton and Stanford Universities, where she studied history, before going on to work as an intelligence analyst at the CIA. She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Since then, she has written 15 books. She lives and works in Denver, Colorado.
