The Jane Austen Code

by J.D. Gregory

When a murder is committed in the city of Southampton, graduate student Anna Lewis finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy and it involves Jane Austen. At a young age the beloved novelist stumbled upon secrets meant to be hidden and left clues within the pages of her works. It is now up to Anna to follow the trail and unravel a mystery centuries in the making.

Genres: Mystery

278 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 2014

About the author

J.D. Gregory was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He has been an avid reader and lover of all things fantasy, mythology, and epic adventure since he was a small child. His desire to be a globe-trotting archaeologist like Indiana Jones led him to various parts of the world to study the cultures and remains of ancient civilizations. It also led him to discover his fellow scholar, co-adventurer, and love his life, Jennifer. His other dream was to write novels, and in the wake of piling student loan debt, decided to make that dream his top priority.
J.D. and Jennifer have returned to their home state of Ohio and are currently awaiting their next great adventure—the birth of their first child.

Reviews

[J.D. Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I obviously can't write an unbiased review for my own book I thought I'd write a little about how this book came about.

My wife introduced me to the wonderful world of Jane Austen many years ago and since then I regularly ask her to watch all five hours of the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle Pride & Prejudice, usually in one go. While studying for a year at the University of Southampton we took every opportunity to visit the various Jane-related sites all throughout England. The idea for the story came to me while we were visiting Chawton Village and were traipsing around the cemetery where Jane's mother and sister are buried. I was having a nice time looking at all of the interesting symbols on the tomb stones and such as well as contemplating the architecture and decorations of the church when I made an off-handed comment about how cool it would be if someone wrote a Jane Austen Code story. My wife's immediate response was "Why don't you write it?" I didn't have an answer for her so I decided to do it. After finishing our programs and returning home to the States, I set to work on researching and writing. It was an interesting journey that I hope everyone enjoys as much as I did. I learned so much and discovered so many things that while I was writing the story there were moments that I actually started to think that parts of the book could have been true if I hadn't written them myself. There is so much that I wanted to put into the story that ultimately didn't make it into the final version that I may consider writing some companion pieces someday. Well that's the story of how The Jane Austen Code came about, I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Cheers.

[Ahnya · Rating 3 out of 5]

While working on her dissertation in Southampton, Anna finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy. Anna intercepts a cryptic message from a man who was murdered to her adviser. Not being able to let it go she unriddles the message, and finds that Jane Austen herself may have left clues in her writings about secrets that are centuries old. Anna's path crosses with a Scottish archaeologist Fraser Adams, who made a bad first impression, and she isn't all that fond of, but is enthusiastic about the mystery. Together they embark on a dangerous and thrilling adventure.

It is kind of like The Da Vinci Code meets Indiana Jones, with a little bit of Jane Austen thrown in. It was a fun adventure, totally far fetched that one should not take seriously. I liked how Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship was kind of mirrored in Anna and Fraser. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a murder is committed Anna Lewis finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy with a connection to the works of Jane Austen who left clues in her books.