Review: MISS AUSTEN INVESTIGATES, Jessica Bull

• 
  this edition published by Penguin 2024
  
• ISBN 988-0-241-64210-8
• 452 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Lavish balls, fetching bonnets, and dead bodies...It's time for Jane Austen to put down her pen - and find a killer

Jane Austen is just starting out in society.

The perils of being a woman in this environment fill the pages of her writing. Yet little does she know just how dangerous things truly are…

When the body of a milliner is discovered during a ball, the murder causes uproar.

For Jane, however, it becomes personal when her beloved brother Georgy is accused of the murder.
To clear his name, she must find the real killer.

Her writing is full of tales of questioning motives, and unmasking secrets.

Might her powers of observation help her solve this mystery, and save her brother from the hangman’s noose? 

My Take

This is obviously written by an author who has a detailed knowledge of Jane Austen and the world she lived in. This story though is basically fictitious with identifiable characters.

It reads well as crime fiction, and the author supplies a wealth of accurate historical details. The plot is well constructed, detailed, and credible.

I guess my main objection is a personal prejudice, when an author plucks a character from history, and uses them in a way that never happened in their real lives. Elsewhere I have referred to this practice as "coattails".

My rating: 4.0

About the author

Jessica Bull grew up in South East London, where she still lives with her husband, two daughters, and far too many pets. She’s addicted to stories and studied English Literature at Bristol University, and Information Science at City University, London. ..