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Miss Austen Investigates

Murder She Wrote: A feel-good mystery for fans of Janice Hallet

#1 in series

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

THE MURDER MYSTERY OF THE SEASON, INTRODUCING A NEW LITERARY SLEUTH – MISS JANE AUSTEN, PERFECT FOR FANS OF TOM HINDLE AND JANICE HALLETT


Lavish balls, fetching bonnets, and dead bodies . . . It's time for Jane Austen to put down her pen – and find a killer
'The cosy crime mystery we've all been waiting for' 5***** reader review
'A note-perfect crime caper' Red
——
'You must look beyond the obvious, interrogate all possibilities, to reach the truth'
Though young in years, Jane Austen has long had the sharp wit and shrewd insight to observe what others do not.
So when the body of a milliner is shockingly discovered during a lavish ball at Sir John Harcourt's estate, she sees how blind polite society can be to the truth.
With the death pronounced a murder and Jane's brother Georgy swiftly accused of the deed, the injustice of it strikes close to home.
Jane writes stories filled with secrets exposed, motives questioned, and manners deceiving. Now, she must turn her powers of observation to detection, to unmask the true murderer.
For if she fails, her beloved brother will face the ultimate punishment – the hangman's noose . . .
——
Why readers love Miss Austen Investigates
'Fresh and witty' 5***** reader review
'Miss Austen Investigates could not be a more perfect formula for success' 5***** reader review
'A fantastic blending of cosy crime with classic fiction...such a fun and unique concept' 5***** reader review
'There is warmth and humour in every page' 5***** reader review
'Delightful and entertaining with a lively witty voice and perfect pacing' 5***** reader review
'This book offers a unique and delightful experience that readers won't forget' 5***** reader review
Praise for Miss Austen Investigates
'Richly imagined and wonderfully plotted - a great read' S.J. Bennett
'This super-fun read is a total breath of fresh air!' Sun
'Sparkling...A brilliant debut that does Jane justice' Woman's Weekly

'Exceptional - the Austen whodunnit I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for! All the twists and turns you want from a murder mystery and an incredibly striking Austen voice' Sophie Irwin
'Delicious' Crime Monthly

'So clever and well done' Good Housekeeping

'Sharp and energetic whilst simultaneously warm and heartfelt. This is a delicious treat for fans of Austen's novels and delightfully compelling mysteries' B.P. Walter

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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 20, 2023
      A 20-year-old Jane Austen unexpectedly becomes an amateur sleuth to clear her brother’s name in Bull’s imaginative debut and series launch. Budding novelist Jane attends a ball at the opulent home of Lord John Harcourt, where she expects dashing Irishman Tom Lefroy to offer her his hand in marriage. Before Lefroy can bend a knee, however, one of Harcourt’s housemaids finds the body of a young woman in the laundry closet, and the festivities come to a halt. Jane recognizes the victim as Madame Renault, a milliner who’d sold her a hat a few days earlier. The expensive necklace Renault was wearing before her death is missing from her corpse, so the local magistrate surmises that vagabonds used the ball as cover to steal Madame Renault’s necklace and leave her for dead. When the jewelry turns up in the pocket of Jane’s nonverbal older brother Georgie, he’s swiftly arrested and charged with theft and murder. With Georgie unable to defend himself and Jane convinced of his innocence, she enlists the help of her close-knit family to find the killer before her brother is hanged. Bull’s Jane is an endearingly clumsy detective, equal parts clever and impulsive, and the investigation contains the kind of high stakes that similar breezy historicals often lack. This series seems destined for a long run.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 17, 2025
      A family’s harsh demands set the stage for an inquiry about an accused fraudster in Bull’s long-winded latest to feature Jane Austen as a sleuth (after The Hapless Milliner). Aspiring novelist Jane, 21, is pressured by her sister-in-law, Elizabeth, to travel to Kent in the weeks before Elizabeth gives birth to a fourth child. Neddy, Elizabeth’s husband and Jane’s brother, was adopted as a boy by a childless rich couple, the Knights, so that he could serve as their heir. Now, the widowed Mrs. Knight has a young woman staying with her who claims to be a shipwrecked foreign princess. Elizabeth and Neddy worry that “Princess Eleanor” will steal their fortune, so they order Jane to ingratiate herself with Mrs. Knight and find out the guest’s true identity. Elizabeth is ruthlessly cruel to Jane, dismissing her love of fiction and insisting she find a suitable man to marry so she doesn’t siphon from Neddy’s inheritance. That dynamic, while historically plausible, drains Jane’s investigation of emotional stakes, and Bull’s overloading the narrative with red herrings doesn’t help matters. As a social analysis of late-18th-century England, this fascinates, but as a mystery, it falls flat.

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