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Jane Austen Mysteries #8
Jane and His Lordship's Legacy
It's with a heavy heart that Jane Austen takes up a new residence at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Secretly mourning the lost love of her life, she's stunned to learn that the late Lord Harold Trowbridge has made her heir to an extraordinary a Bengal chest filled with his diaries, letters, and most intimate correspondence. From these, Jane is expected to write a memoir of the Gentleman Rogue for posterity. But before she can put pen to paper on this labor of love, she discovers a corpse in the cellar of her new home.The dead man was a common laborer, and a subsequent coroner's examination shows he was murdered elsewhere and transported to Chawton Cottage. Suddenly Jane and her family are thrust into the center of a brewing scandal in this provincial village that doesn't take kindly to outsiders in general—and to Austens in particular.And just as Jane glimpses a connection between the murder and the shattering truth concealed somewhere in Lord Harold's papers, violent death strikes yet another unsuspecting vicitim. Suddenly there are suspects and motives everywhere Jane looks—local burglaries, thwarted passions, would-be knights, and members of the royal family itself who want Lord Harold hushed . . . even in death. As the tale of one man's illustrious life unfolds—a life that runs a parallel course to the history of two continents—Jane races against time to catch a cunning killer before more innocent lives are taken. But her determination to protect Lord Harold's legacy could exact the costliest price of her own life.Jane and His Lordship's Legacy is historical suspense writing at its very finest, graced with insight, perception, and uncommon intelligence of its singular heroine in a mystery that will test the mettle of her mind and heart.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
78 people are currently reading
1471 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Barron
39 books885 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Stephanie Barron was born Francine Stephanie Barron in Binghamton, NY in 1963, the last of six girls. Her father was a retired general in the Air Force, her mother a beautiful woman who loved to dance. The family spent their summers on Cape Cod, where two of the Barron girls now live with their families; Francine's passion for Nantucket and the New England shoreline dates from her earliest memories. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, a two hundred year-old Catholic school for girls that shares a wall with Georgetown University. Her father died of a heart attack during her freshman year.
In 1981, she started college at Princeton – one of the most formative experiences of her life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian – a hobby that led to two part-time jobs as a journalist for The Miami Herald and The San Jose Mercury News. Francine majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and won an Arthur W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities in her senior year. But the course she remembers most vividly from her time at Princeton is "The Literature of Fact," taught by John McPhee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. John influenced Francine's writing more than even she knows and certainly more than she is able to say. If there were an altar erected to the man in Colorado, she'd place offerings there daily. He's her personal god of craft.
Francine spent three years at Stanford pursuing a doctorate in history; she failed to write her dissertation (on the Brazilian Bar Association under authoritarianism; can you blame her?) and left with a Masters. She applied to the CIA, spent a year temping in Northern Virginia while the FBI asked inconvenient questions of everyone she had ever known, passed a polygraph test on her twenty-sixth birthday, and was immediately thrown into the Career Trainee program: Boot Camp for the Agency's Best and Brightest. Four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA were profoundly fulfilling, the highlights being Francine's work on the Counterterrorism Center's investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and sleeping on a horsehair mattress in a Spectre-era casino in the middle of Bratislava. Another peak moment was her chance to debrief ex-President George Bush in Houston in 1993. But what she remembers most about the place are the extraordinary intelligence and dedication of most of the staff – many of them women – many of whom cannot be named.
She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Fifteen books have followed, along with sundry children, dogs, and houses. When she's not writing, she likes to ski, garden, needlepoint, and buy art. Her phone number is definitely unlisted.
Stephanie Barron was born Francine Stephanie Barron in Binghamton, NY in 1963, the last of six girls. Her father was a retired general in the Air Force, her mother a beautiful woman who loved to dance. The family spent their summers on Cape Cod, where two of the Barron girls now live with their families; Francine's passion for Nantucket and the New England shoreline dates from her earliest memories. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, a two hundred year-old Catholic school for girls that shares a wall with Georgetown University. Her father died of a heart attack during her freshman year.
In 1981, she started college at Princeton – one of the most formative experiences of her life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian – a hobby that led to two part-time jobs as a journalist for The Miami Herald and The San Jose Mercury News. Francine majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and won an Arthur W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities in her senior year. But the course she remembers most vividly from her time at Princeton is "The Literature of Fact," taught by John McPhee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. John influenced Francine's writing more than even she knows and certainly more than she is able to say. If there were an altar erected to the man in Colorado, she'd place offerings there daily. He's her personal god of craft.
Francine spent three years at Stanford pursuing a doctorate in history; she failed to write her dissertation (on the Brazilian Bar Association under authoritarianism; can you blame her?) and left with a Masters. She applied to the CIA, spent a year temping in Northern Virginia while the FBI asked inconvenient questions of everyone she had ever known, passed a polygraph test on her twenty-sixth birthday, and was immediately thrown into the Career Trainee program: Boot Camp for the Agency's Best and Brightest. Four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA were profoundly fulfilling, the highlights being Francine's work on the Counterterrorism Center's investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and sleeping on a horsehair mattress in a Spectre-era casino in the middle of Bratislava. Another peak moment was her chance to debrief ex-President George Bush in Houston in 1993. But what she remembers most about the place are the extraordinary intelligence and dedication of most of the staff – many of them women – many of whom cannot be named.
She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Fifteen books have followed, along with sundry children, dogs, and houses. When she's not writing, she likes to ski, garden, needlepoint, and buy art. Her phone number is definitely unlisted.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
August 23, 2017
I read Stephanie Barron’s cozy mystery series featuring real-life author Jane Austen in cahoots with a fictional roguish second son of a duke, Lord Harold Trowbridge. Now on her own in this eighth novel in the series, Jane, her silly mother, and her sensible sister Cassandra have been installed in a cottage in the Hampshire village of Chawthorn, a den of gossip and nasty doings. On their very first day in the cottage, Jane discovers a corpse in the cottage’s cellar. Later, the cottage is broken into, ransacked, and a very special trunk stolen — a trunk full of Lord Harold Trowbridge’s papers, papers revealing any number of spy adventures and scandals among Britain’s finest families. Jane soon realizes that several of her acquaintance are not merely ready to thieve to get their hands on those papers — but to murder.
I picked up Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy at my public library so long ago that the story was on cassettes. Yes, cassettes! Losing the very first cassette, I returned the book with much chagrin, paid my fine and for the loss, and quit the series. In the ensuing years, I had forgotten how beautifully written these books are and how meticulously Barron researches the Georgian period, adding lovely historical touches. Barron so channels Austen that the phrasing in these modern novels are virtually indistinguishable from Austen’s own. How did I keep away from this series for so many years?
Readers will also appreciate how Barron effortlessly provides a lesson into Austen’s England without ever slowing down the mystery plot one whit. With its combination of historical fact and clever invention, Austen fans and cozy lovers alike will adore Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy as well as the series as a whole.
I picked up Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy at my public library so long ago that the story was on cassettes. Yes, cassettes! Losing the very first cassette, I returned the book with much chagrin, paid my fine and for the loss, and quit the series. In the ensuing years, I had forgotten how beautifully written these books are and how meticulously Barron researches the Georgian period, adding lovely historical touches. Barron so channels Austen that the phrasing in these modern novels are virtually indistinguishable from Austen’s own. How did I keep away from this series for so many years?
Readers will also appreciate how Barron effortlessly provides a lesson into Austen’s England without ever slowing down the mystery plot one whit. With its combination of historical fact and clever invention, Austen fans and cozy lovers alike will adore Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy as well as the series as a whole.
July 8, 2024
Well I asked for something more serious after reading the last Jane Austen Mystery, and I got it in this book, it was rather sad. In rather a neat way, we get to learn a lot more about the late Lord Harold Trowbridge which I enjoyed; I thought it was a pity when Stephanie Barron wrote him out of the series. Maybe we can hope that Jane Austen gets around to writing some books in the next one. I’ve no idea why I keep reading this series, it’s not really very good, but I like learning about Jane Austen’s life, in an easy-going way, I’m not interested enough to read a biography. I enjoy the politeness and the descriptions of the landscapes I grew up in, I still have cousins in Hampshire, we lived in Buckinghamshire, but the southern counties are mostly the same.
To sum up, this is a fairly good mystery in the series, it follows the usual pattern, and I learnt some new stuff about Jane Austen’s relations.
To sum up, this is a fairly good mystery in the series, it follows the usual pattern, and I learnt some new stuff about Jane Austen’s relations.
October 16, 2011
I so enjoy these books. I got behind in my reading and was delighted to sink back into a good mystery which is also a well-researched glimpse of Austen's life. Don't worry, I know they are fiction, but the footnotes cover actual history. I find this a lovely blending of real and fictional.
July 10, 2023
Jane inherits Lord Harold's old letters and journals after his death, but they contain secrets about almost every prominent family in England. There are those who would do anything to keep the papers from becoming public, including commit murder.
I really liked this story and the history behind it. There is quite a lot of real history woven into the story with Jane's family and her acquaintances, but of course the murder mystery and Jane's involvement in the investigation are entirely fictional.
I enjoyed seeing more of Jane's brothers and their sibling relationships. Jane also has a lot of sweet scenes with her sister, Cassandra, that shows how close they were. It was lovely to see how Jane cares so much for her family, but they also exasperate her at times. Jane is especially annoyed by her mother sometimes. Her mother is similar to Mrs. Bennet, always fussing and worried.
The murder mystery itself is good, and all the intrigue with the old letters is exciting! I was completely shocked at the ending! I never imagined what the ending could be, and it was a total surprise.
I love the formal writing style that mimics the Regency era language. The dialogue is fairly close to what a real conversation might have been like in that time period. It really immerses you in the history.
I really liked this story and the history behind it. There is quite a lot of real history woven into the story with Jane's family and her acquaintances, but of course the murder mystery and Jane's involvement in the investigation are entirely fictional.
I enjoyed seeing more of Jane's brothers and their sibling relationships. Jane also has a lot of sweet scenes with her sister, Cassandra, that shows how close they were. It was lovely to see how Jane cares so much for her family, but they also exasperate her at times. Jane is especially annoyed by her mother sometimes. Her mother is similar to Mrs. Bennet, always fussing and worried.
The murder mystery itself is good, and all the intrigue with the old letters is exciting! I was completely shocked at the ending! I never imagined what the ending could be, and it was a total surprise.
I love the formal writing style that mimics the Regency era language. The dialogue is fairly close to what a real conversation might have been like in that time period. It really immerses you in the history.
July 1, 2018
As a genealogist, I very much enjoyed that the solution to this mystery lies in a thorough understanding of very complicated family trees and family histories. This is right up my alley, but Stephanie Barron confused me with her everlastingly clever red herrings. You see, one family tree reveals the murderer, but all are necessary to understand which ones contain duplicitous branches. You need to know the family of Lord Harold’s friend Freddy, the history of Lord Harold in India and France, and of the Austen family’s connection to the Knight family.
There are other family histories we need to understand. The most difficult is the way Jane Austen’s family was related to both the Knight family of Kent that adopted her brother Edward, and to the Hinton family of Chawton that claimed to be the legal heirs-of-body of the Knight family of Chawton; and how those two Knight families were related to one another.
The Knight family of Kent that adopted Edward Austen consisted of Thomas Knight and his second wife, Catherine Knatchbull. Thomas Knight’s first wife was Jane Monk; she and the Reverend George Austen (father of Jane, Edward, and all the other siblings) were both great-grandchildren of John Austen and Jane Atkins.
Thomas Knight was born Thomas Brodnax, a son of William Brodnax and Anne May. Thomas changed his surname to May when he inherited his grandparents’ estate. Anne May’s maternal cousin Frances married a man named Michael Martin (Michael’s mother was the last of the Chawton Knight family); Michael’s paternal cousin Joan married a Hinton. Michael Martin’s mother, Dorothy Knight, had inherited the Chawton estate. Michael and Frances’s daughter Elizabeth Knight inherited the Chawton estates. She married but had no children, so her will set up this very complicated legal labyrinth that allowed her mother’s cousin’s son Thomas Brodnax/May/Knight of Kent to inherit the Chawton estates, rather than allowing her father’s cousins the Hintons to inherit.
The Hintons were miffed when they were not the chosen cousin line, but they did nothing until a couple generations passed and the Knight line ended in those two childless marriages that led to Thomas Knight and his second wife, Catherine Knatchbull Knight, adopting Edward Austen. Then the Hintons decided that it was not fair for someone not a blood relation to Elizabeth Martin Knight to inherit the Chawton property (never mind that neither cousin line technically was a blood relation to the original Chawton Knight family except Elizabeth Martin Knight).
The Hintons were in the process of a very complex and long-lasting lawsuit against Edward Austen Knight, hoping to prove that he was not the rightful heir to the Chawton estates. Fortunately, the Hintons did not eventually win; but in 1814 Edward Knight had to pay them some £15,000, of which £10,000 went to Jane Hinton Baverstock and £5,000 to John Knight Hinton. Edward paid this money by selling off timber from Chawton Wood Park. During the action of this novel, Jack Hinton and his sister Mary were living in Chawton Lodge, opposite the Great House (Chawton Manor).
Adding to the general confusion of people, we meet and need to keep in mind a number of the inhabitants of Chawton and Alton.
The Middleton family rents Chawton Great House (the manor) from Edward Austen. They consist at this time of the father, John-Charles, a widower whose wife’s sister Maria Beckford lives with the family as hostess; the eldest son who is away at sea; daughters Susan, Charlotte-Maria, Lucy, Charlotte-Lydia-Elizabeth; and the youngest son, Frederick-Graeme, age 6.
Mr. John-Rawston Papillon, a clergyman, was given the Chawton Living by Mrs. Knight, the stepmother of Edward Austen. Mr. Papillon and his spinster sister, Elizabeth, who keeps house for him, live in the restored old Rectory. Mrs. Austen hopes to make a match between this clergyman and one of her daughters.
The Prowtings of Chawton consist of the father, William, the county magistrate in Chawton as well as Deputy Lieutenant, his wife, and his daughters, Catherine-Ann and Ann-Mary. When Catherine comes under Jane Austen’s suspicions, it develops that this young lady has people and things to hide.
Mrs Libby Cuttle of Chawton bakes bread for the village, but she won’t sell to the Austens because she is allied to the Hintons, or maybe because she doesn’t like the way Edward Austen treated the Widow Seward.
Old Philmore owns some run-down cottages in one of which lives Miss Benn, an impoverished gentlewoman, nearsighted, voluble, and easily distracted. The Philmores and the Frenches are numerous in the area and are working class. Important to our story are Shafto French, the corpse; Shafto’s wife; Bertie Philmore, who fought with Shafto and spends most of the story in jail for his murder; and Old Philmore, Bertie’s uncle.
The Widow Seward is the former inhabitant of Chawton Cottage, and she has gone to live with her daughter, now Mrs. James Baverstock, who is related to the whole Hinton-Knight mess, in Alton, within walking distance of Chawton. The Baverstocks have a brewery.
Sally Mitchell, the maid the Prowtings find for the Austens, comes from Alton. Her older brother is married to Nell, whose sister Rosie is married to Bertie Philmore.
Also in Alton are Henry Austen’s bank branch, Austen, Gray & Vincent, and the house that Frank Austen’s wife Mary has rented, Rose Cottage in Lenton Street.
I think this novel is excellently constructed, with what Jane has been reading among Lord Harold’s papers is crucial to understanding the present mystery. It is also entertaining to read the exchange between Freddy and Jane when she reveals to him who she is in relation to his old friend:
“Harry’s papers?” The Earl glanced at me in a startled fashion. “Thought he left them to some light o’ love by way of payment for services rendered. Heard it from Wilborough myself. Poor old fellow expects to be petitioned with blackmail at every moment. Dashed odd of Harry, my opinion! Must have been devilish smitten with the gel.”
“Lord Harold left all his papers to me,” I replied with what I thought was commendable command of countenance. The Earl’s expression of shock was so blatant as to border on the insulting.
Poor Jane! This is pretty much typical of everybody’s reaction to her having inherited Lord Harold’s papers. All she can do is remain dignified and belie everybody’s assumptions, though with her wry and caustic wit, she seems to secretly enjoy the position too.
There are other family histories we need to understand. The most difficult is the way Jane Austen’s family was related to both the Knight family of Kent that adopted her brother Edward, and to the Hinton family of Chawton that claimed to be the legal heirs-of-body of the Knight family of Chawton; and how those two Knight families were related to one another.
The Knight family of Kent that adopted Edward Austen consisted of Thomas Knight and his second wife, Catherine Knatchbull. Thomas Knight’s first wife was Jane Monk; she and the Reverend George Austen (father of Jane, Edward, and all the other siblings) were both great-grandchildren of John Austen and Jane Atkins.
Thomas Knight was born Thomas Brodnax, a son of William Brodnax and Anne May. Thomas changed his surname to May when he inherited his grandparents’ estate. Anne May’s maternal cousin Frances married a man named Michael Martin (Michael’s mother was the last of the Chawton Knight family); Michael’s paternal cousin Joan married a Hinton. Michael Martin’s mother, Dorothy Knight, had inherited the Chawton estate. Michael and Frances’s daughter Elizabeth Knight inherited the Chawton estates. She married but had no children, so her will set up this very complicated legal labyrinth that allowed her mother’s cousin’s son Thomas Brodnax/May/Knight of Kent to inherit the Chawton estates, rather than allowing her father’s cousins the Hintons to inherit.
The Hintons were miffed when they were not the chosen cousin line, but they did nothing until a couple generations passed and the Knight line ended in those two childless marriages that led to Thomas Knight and his second wife, Catherine Knatchbull Knight, adopting Edward Austen. Then the Hintons decided that it was not fair for someone not a blood relation to Elizabeth Martin Knight to inherit the Chawton property (never mind that neither cousin line technically was a blood relation to the original Chawton Knight family except Elizabeth Martin Knight).
The Hintons were in the process of a very complex and long-lasting lawsuit against Edward Austen Knight, hoping to prove that he was not the rightful heir to the Chawton estates. Fortunately, the Hintons did not eventually win; but in 1814 Edward Knight had to pay them some £15,000, of which £10,000 went to Jane Hinton Baverstock and £5,000 to John Knight Hinton. Edward paid this money by selling off timber from Chawton Wood Park. During the action of this novel, Jack Hinton and his sister Mary were living in Chawton Lodge, opposite the Great House (Chawton Manor).
Adding to the general confusion of people, we meet and need to keep in mind a number of the inhabitants of Chawton and Alton.
The Middleton family rents Chawton Great House (the manor) from Edward Austen. They consist at this time of the father, John-Charles, a widower whose wife’s sister Maria Beckford lives with the family as hostess; the eldest son who is away at sea; daughters Susan, Charlotte-Maria, Lucy, Charlotte-Lydia-Elizabeth; and the youngest son, Frederick-Graeme, age 6.
Mr. John-Rawston Papillon, a clergyman, was given the Chawton Living by Mrs. Knight, the stepmother of Edward Austen. Mr. Papillon and his spinster sister, Elizabeth, who keeps house for him, live in the restored old Rectory. Mrs. Austen hopes to make a match between this clergyman and one of her daughters.
The Prowtings of Chawton consist of the father, William, the county magistrate in Chawton as well as Deputy Lieutenant, his wife, and his daughters, Catherine-Ann and Ann-Mary. When Catherine comes under Jane Austen’s suspicions, it develops that this young lady has people and things to hide.
Mrs Libby Cuttle of Chawton bakes bread for the village, but she won’t sell to the Austens because she is allied to the Hintons, or maybe because she doesn’t like the way Edward Austen treated the Widow Seward.
Old Philmore owns some run-down cottages in one of which lives Miss Benn, an impoverished gentlewoman, nearsighted, voluble, and easily distracted. The Philmores and the Frenches are numerous in the area and are working class. Important to our story are Shafto French, the corpse; Shafto’s wife; Bertie Philmore, who fought with Shafto and spends most of the story in jail for his murder; and Old Philmore, Bertie’s uncle.
The Widow Seward is the former inhabitant of Chawton Cottage, and she has gone to live with her daughter, now Mrs. James Baverstock, who is related to the whole Hinton-Knight mess, in Alton, within walking distance of Chawton. The Baverstocks have a brewery.
Sally Mitchell, the maid the Prowtings find for the Austens, comes from Alton. Her older brother is married to Nell, whose sister Rosie is married to Bertie Philmore.
Also in Alton are Henry Austen’s bank branch, Austen, Gray & Vincent, and the house that Frank Austen’s wife Mary has rented, Rose Cottage in Lenton Street.
I think this novel is excellently constructed, with what Jane has been reading among Lord Harold’s papers is crucial to understanding the present mystery. It is also entertaining to read the exchange between Freddy and Jane when she reveals to him who she is in relation to his old friend:
“Harry’s papers?” The Earl glanced at me in a startled fashion. “Thought he left them to some light o’ love by way of payment for services rendered. Heard it from Wilborough myself. Poor old fellow expects to be petitioned with blackmail at every moment. Dashed odd of Harry, my opinion! Must have been devilish smitten with the gel.”
“Lord Harold left all his papers to me,” I replied with what I thought was commendable command of countenance. The Earl’s expression of shock was so blatant as to border on the insulting.
Poor Jane! This is pretty much typical of everybody’s reaction to her having inherited Lord Harold’s papers. All she can do is remain dignified and belie everybody’s assumptions, though with her wry and caustic wit, she seems to secretly enjoy the position too.
August 16, 2011
It is 1809, a significant year in the life of our esteemed authoress Jane Austen. After close to five years of being shuffled about England between relatives, the three unattached Austen ladies: widower Mrs. Austen and her two unmarried daughters Jane and Cassandra are given permanent refuge by Jane’s elder brother Edward Austen Knight in the village of Chawton. They will live at Chawton cottage the former residence of the recently deceased steward of Edward’s vast estate there. Still privately grieving the tragic death of her dear friend Lord Harold Trowbridge (The Gentleman Rogue) nine months prior, Jane arrives in the village to find an uneasy welcome to the Squire’s family. It appears that the villagers are unhappy that the widow of Edward’s former steward was asked to vacate the cottage in favor of his family, and more seriously, Edward as an absentee Squire has been remiss in his duties since the death of his wife Elizabeth the previous year.
Within hours of Jane’s arrival at the cottage she receives an unexpected visit from contemptuous Mr. Bartholomew Chizzlewit, attorney to the family of His Grace the Duke of Wilborough. Performing his duty as family solicitor, he deposits on Jane’s dining-parlor floor a curiously carved chest announcing that she is listed as a legatee in Lord Harold’s Last Will and Testament. His bequest (should she accept it) is that she accept his personal papers and diaries, “a lifetime of incident, intrigue, and conspiracy; of adventure and scandal; of wagers lost and won,” and write his life story! After the Duke of Wilborough’s family contested the legacy in a London court and lost, they are bitter about the arrangement and hold it against Jane. Not only is this startling news, the thought of reliving the Gentleman Rogues life, far before she met him, and then through his entire life as a spy for the British government, is both curious and painful to her. When the huge chest is removed into the cottage’s cellar, another startling discover brings Jane’s first day at Chawton to a scandalous close. A body of a man lies rotting and rat eaten on the floor.
Jane’s brother Henry arrives the next day and the inquest into the mysterious death begins by the local authorities with Jane and Henry in assistance. After Lord Harold’s trunk is stolen, Jane is convinced that it contains information that someone did not want her to discover. Could the theft be linked to the Wilborough family trying to cover up their son’s notorious life? Or, could it be the newcomers to the neighborhood, Julian Thrace, a young London Buck who is rumored to be the illegitimate heir apparent to the Earl of Holbrook vast wealth, and his half-sister Lady Imogen, the Earl’s acknowledged heir? Or, is the dead body in the cellar a personal vendetta by the bitter Jack Hinton, eager to make trouble for the Austen family? He claims to be the rightful heir to the Knight family estate of Chawton that Jane’s brother Edward inherited. There are suspects and motives, suppositions and accusations galore for our observant and clever Jane to ponder and detect before she solves the crime.
One chapter into the eighth novel in the Being a Jane Austen Mystery series and I am totally convinced that Jane Austen is channeling the actual events of her life through author Stephanie Barron. She has so convincingly captured her witty, acerbic and penetrating voice that I am totally mesmerized. Like Jane, I am still grieving the tragic death of her secret crush Lord Harold. Reading his letters and journals was like bringing him back to life. Delightful torture for those Gentleman Rogue fans such as myself. Jane and His Lordship's Legacy was a very well-plotted and fast-paced mystery, but Barron really outshines her own talent with her incredible historical details and the fact that in this discriminating Austen-obsessed mind, no one will ever be able to match her unique ability to channel my favorite author’s voice so perfectly.
Laurel Ann, Austenprose
Within hours of Jane’s arrival at the cottage she receives an unexpected visit from contemptuous Mr. Bartholomew Chizzlewit, attorney to the family of His Grace the Duke of Wilborough. Performing his duty as family solicitor, he deposits on Jane’s dining-parlor floor a curiously carved chest announcing that she is listed as a legatee in Lord Harold’s Last Will and Testament. His bequest (should she accept it) is that she accept his personal papers and diaries, “a lifetime of incident, intrigue, and conspiracy; of adventure and scandal; of wagers lost and won,” and write his life story! After the Duke of Wilborough’s family contested the legacy in a London court and lost, they are bitter about the arrangement and hold it against Jane. Not only is this startling news, the thought of reliving the Gentleman Rogues life, far before she met him, and then through his entire life as a spy for the British government, is both curious and painful to her. When the huge chest is removed into the cottage’s cellar, another startling discover brings Jane’s first day at Chawton to a scandalous close. A body of a man lies rotting and rat eaten on the floor.
Jane’s brother Henry arrives the next day and the inquest into the mysterious death begins by the local authorities with Jane and Henry in assistance. After Lord Harold’s trunk is stolen, Jane is convinced that it contains information that someone did not want her to discover. Could the theft be linked to the Wilborough family trying to cover up their son’s notorious life? Or, could it be the newcomers to the neighborhood, Julian Thrace, a young London Buck who is rumored to be the illegitimate heir apparent to the Earl of Holbrook vast wealth, and his half-sister Lady Imogen, the Earl’s acknowledged heir? Or, is the dead body in the cellar a personal vendetta by the bitter Jack Hinton, eager to make trouble for the Austen family? He claims to be the rightful heir to the Knight family estate of Chawton that Jane’s brother Edward inherited. There are suspects and motives, suppositions and accusations galore for our observant and clever Jane to ponder and detect before she solves the crime.
One chapter into the eighth novel in the Being a Jane Austen Mystery series and I am totally convinced that Jane Austen is channeling the actual events of her life through author Stephanie Barron. She has so convincingly captured her witty, acerbic and penetrating voice that I am totally mesmerized. Like Jane, I am still grieving the tragic death of her secret crush Lord Harold. Reading his letters and journals was like bringing him back to life. Delightful torture for those Gentleman Rogue fans such as myself. Jane and His Lordship's Legacy was a very well-plotted and fast-paced mystery, but Barron really outshines her own talent with her incredible historical details and the fact that in this discriminating Austen-obsessed mind, no one will ever be able to match her unique ability to channel my favorite author’s voice so perfectly.
Laurel Ann, Austenprose
August 4, 2016
In the older tradition, detectives tended to be never married or widowed: Holmes, Marples, Poirot, etc. A newer breed often has a series of lovers falling at his or her feet, but the detective hero or heroine always manages to avoid a permanent relationship. How much harder then to balance the love life of a historical figure who, we know, never married? Things were getting pretty serious, so it was clear our clever author was going to have to do something, and the blow was dealt in the last book, and I was interested to see how Stephanie was going to deal with the situation.
In fact, she handles the situation very deftly and gives us yet another entertaining suspense story. As always, I have a couple of nitpicks, which don't, I think detract too much from the story. I had to "google" the phrase "spotted dog pudding" — to my surprise, it does exist: for a small number of people as a variant of "spotted dick". Funny how Americans, who frequently come out with foul language in inappropriate situations, can be so coy about childish words like "dick". I was also suspicious of her note that "sweep" = "driveway". I couldn't find confirmation of this, but I thought "sweep" was only used for the grand driveways of great houses where natural contours and landscaping were combined to produce a driveway that seems to sweep away from the house to the horizon.
In fact, she handles the situation very deftly and gives us yet another entertaining suspense story. As always, I have a couple of nitpicks, which don't, I think detract too much from the story. I had to "google" the phrase "spotted dog pudding" — to my surprise, it does exist: for a small number of people as a variant of "spotted dick". Funny how Americans, who frequently come out with foul language in inappropriate situations, can be so coy about childish words like "dick". I was also suspicious of her note that "sweep" = "driveway". I couldn't find confirmation of this, but I thought "sweep" was only used for the grand driveways of great houses where natural contours and landscaping were combined to produce a driveway that seems to sweep away from the house to the horizon.
December 18, 2016
L'ultimo libro tradotto in italiano di questa serie bellissima coincide con l'arrivo (rocambolesco, ma ovviamente fittizio) di Jane Austen nel cottage di Chawton, dove visse dal 1809 fino alla sua morte, nel 1817.
October 17, 2023
This one didn‘t do it for me. It took a long while for the role of the letters to become apparent and so for a long time, the book felt like the focus was split. In the end, it was well-plotted, like the others but not one I‘d pick up again
August 1, 2025
[This is a reread. I didn't write a review first time.]
I love these Jane Austen mysteries. It's the main character that brings me back. The crime-solving version of the beloved author is really likable, sympathetic, and great fun to watch. And we get all of that here, once again. I'm sad when she's sad, I'm amused when she's amused, and when she confounds her enemies by putting all the pieces together, she's awesome.
As much as I like it, this one is slightly less fun, since it includes a very subdued Jane who is reeling from the death of someone she really cared about--was in love with--and she is a bit less active as well. Perhaps as a result, we get most of the reveals and most of Jane's brilliance near the end, though it's still a successful mystery. I liked the journal entries from Lord Harold's papers, and though I would have liked seeing them to impact the plot a little more, they do still play their part.
The setup: Jane and her family are settling in to the cottage in Chawton where they famously lived for many years, and they're not being well received. Not only that, there is a body in the cellar when they first move in. It's a rude welcome, and things don't get better very quickly. Jane needs to figure out who's responsible before there's more violence...
I had a little bit of character overload reading this, even though I read it once before, about 15 years ago. It's the connections between kinda minor characters that I lose track of, and then they turn out to be pivotal details. Well, I bet the third time's the charm.
As always, recommended.
I love these Jane Austen mysteries. It's the main character that brings me back. The crime-solving version of the beloved author is really likable, sympathetic, and great fun to watch. And we get all of that here, once again. I'm sad when she's sad, I'm amused when she's amused, and when she confounds her enemies by putting all the pieces together, she's awesome.
As much as I like it, this one is slightly less fun, since it includes a very subdued Jane who is reeling from the death of someone she really cared about--was in love with--and she is a bit less active as well. Perhaps as a result, we get most of the reveals and most of Jane's brilliance near the end, though it's still a successful mystery. I liked the journal entries from Lord Harold's papers, and though I would have liked seeing them to impact the plot a little more, they do still play their part.
The setup: Jane and her family are settling in to the cottage in Chawton where they famously lived for many years, and they're not being well received. Not only that, there is a body in the cellar when they first move in. It's a rude welcome, and things don't get better very quickly. Jane needs to figure out who's responsible before there's more violence...
I had a little bit of character overload reading this, even though I read it once before, about 15 years ago. It's the connections between kinda minor characters that I lose track of, and then they turn out to be pivotal details. Well, I bet the third time's the charm.
As always, recommended.
September 26, 2025
I love a good mystery and I thought I had it figured out but there was a good twist in the end that I didn’t see coming.
June 6, 2014
Definitely a slow, tough read, I found I wanted to just read the last chapter to find out "who-done-it". It falls flat in the storytelling and it was so hard to keep engaged. I don't get "Jane's real voice" in these at all, the author just grabs phrases from JA's real books and sprinkles them here and there, that's not authentic, just trying too hard I think.
November 2, 2007
Don't read these mysteries! They don't do Jane justice. Very silly.
March 6, 2018
I thought the story confusing at times.
June 25, 2018
Will Jane never live down her relationship with The Gentleman Rogue? And now he's left her a bequest in the form of all his papers, including letters he wrote to his mum - that he either collected from her or copied as a record as some of the extremely important people of the time did. And he expects her to biographize him - for the edification of posterity. Hahaha!
Many people suspect the writings to contain blackmailable material, so his family was dead against the bequest and some others may want to steal it. To complicate matters, a body is found in the basement of the Austen ladies' new home in Chawton. There is a challenger to Edward's inheritance of the Knight family properties and the natives resent the Austens.
This was a pretty good and quick read. Possible illegitmate children of Lord Harold are hinted at. Oooo!
More installments to go! She's only got 8 more years to live.
Many people suspect the writings to contain blackmailable material, so his family was dead against the bequest and some others may want to steal it. To complicate matters, a body is found in the basement of the Austen ladies' new home in Chawton. There is a challenger to Edward's inheritance of the Knight family properties and the natives resent the Austens.
This was a pretty good and quick read. Possible illegitmate children of Lord Harold are hinted at. Oooo!
More installments to go! She's only got 8 more years to live.
February 27, 2021
Jane Austen and Sherlock Holmes - have any literary figures ever had so many combinations and permutations? Nope. I jumped into this series in the middle, but author Stephanie Barron gives the reader enough info that you have all the background you need to appreciate the plot. It's the Regency period, and Jane is in her dotage - mid-30s to those of us not embedded in a time when an unmarried woman was a spinster in her 20s. Everyone is predictably and excruciatingly polite, and the plot centers on a chest bequeathed to Jane by a scoundrel who'd taken a fancy to her. The chest is full of revealing papers that may be a blackmailer's sweet dream, and everyone seems to be after it in the little village that Jane, her mother and sister have repaired to.
The plot is precise and measured, and Barron has a terrific ear for putting the reader into the period without drowning her in the day-to-day minutiae.
When all is said and done, it's a very nice mystery.
Now, go dress for dinner and make sure your bonnet is on straight.
The plot is precise and measured, and Barron has a terrific ear for putting the reader into the period without drowning her in the day-to-day minutiae.
When all is said and done, it's a very nice mystery.
Now, go dress for dinner and make sure your bonnet is on straight.
April 20, 2020
Another clever installment in the Jane series, this one has a dash of cold reality thrown in. MAJOR PLOT SPOILER ALERT! If the you read the book previous to this one, you know that Lord Harold Trowbridge has been killed. Poor Jane! He may be gone, but he is not forgotten, nor is his impact on her life. As a historical point, it's interesting how quickly people jumped to conclusions about the nature of Jane's relationship with Lord Harold --indeed, she is nearly a scarlet women. However, his chest of letters and other writings opens a new mystery. Beyond any monetary value, the letters may contain information that is worth more than gold. And it seems, some people are bent on getting the deceased's papers. Jane is trying to heal her heart, protect her legacy and the memory of her beloved, and to keep herself out of harm's way, all the while solving a mystery. A good, engaging read as always.
February 2, 2019
This entire series is FAB! The ultimate reading for mystery readers who also adore Jane Austen and history. Barron entwines Jane in mysteries set in the exact location where Jane was at that time. Each mystery 'could' have occurred. The research into Jane's personal life, rules and habits of the time, real locations at that time, etc, make these books so realistic, and so enjoyable. Jane comes to life and showcases her superb mental faculties in these books.
Read them ALL--and in order!!!
I'm re-reading them again after a couple of years and it's just as enjoyable--almost more enjoyable than in the first reading. Pull up Google Maps while reading and zoom in on the real landscape, buildings, and cities. Much of where she lived and visited is still there--again one of the pleasures of the books, fitting into reality of Jane's life and time.
Read them ALL--and in order!!!
I'm re-reading them again after a couple of years and it's just as enjoyable--almost more enjoyable than in the first reading. Pull up Google Maps while reading and zoom in on the real landscape, buildings, and cities. Much of where she lived and visited is still there--again one of the pleasures of the books, fitting into reality of Jane's life and time.
January 9, 2022
If Jane and the Ghosts of Netley (Book #7) was written to serve as the culmination of Lord Harold Trowbridge's near decade long tendre for Jane, Stephanie Barron wrote Jane and His Lordship's Legacy (Book #8) as a love letter to her beloved Gentleman Rogue. Reading the novel feels deliciously self-indulgent. It feels comforting and satisfying to spend time with him, getting to know him better than we ever did in life, through his own words. It feels devastating knowing that we won't ever see him striding into the humble Austen parlour again, or hear him murmur, "My dear Jane." Bravo to Stephanie for her brilliant fictional world building within her impeccably and consummately researched non-fiction narrative of Jane Austen's life that is provided throughout the series. The creation that is Lord Harold is the greatest example of that achievement. Farewell, my Lord.
July 1, 2023
Jane and her mother move from Southampton to Chawton where her brother Edward has set them up in a cottage. To Jane’s surprise, she becomes the inheritor of Lord Harold’s papers with the request that she write his life’s story. Less surprising is the corpse found in the basement of her new home, since most murder mysteries require a body and Jane, like many fictional detectives, stumbles across them fairly often.
Parallel to the mystery of the body in the cellar, someone is trying to steal Lord Harold’s documents from Jane and the villagers of Chawton aren’t particularly friendly to the Austens for some reason. All is revealed in good time. Both brothers Henry and Edward make appearances along with sister Cassandra and Jane’s (embarrassing) mother.
The eighth book in the series and a solid installment.
Parallel to the mystery of the body in the cellar, someone is trying to steal Lord Harold’s documents from Jane and the villagers of Chawton aren’t particularly friendly to the Austens for some reason. All is revealed in good time. Both brothers Henry and Edward make appearances along with sister Cassandra and Jane’s (embarrassing) mother.
The eighth book in the series and a solid installment.
April 16, 2019
Jane is up to her neck in murder. Stephanie Barron is at her best when she is writing as Jane Austin. Jane and her family have just moved to the village of Chawton, and discover in their basement a dead body. The neighbors are cold and rude to the Austins making the solving of this murder very difficult, nobody wants to talk. Jane also receives a valuable Chinese chest from a love interest who has recently been killed. The chest contains all of this man's papers. Jane is enjoying reading the letters when the chest is stolen. Is the theft of this chest involved in the murder. Tragically there is another murder. Jane is going to have to work fast to solve the murders before someone else is killed.
March 19, 2018
I found the rather closed setting of this one, the Austen women closeted away in Chawton, very appealing, especially after the international intrigue of the previous book. Barron excels at the country village setting, imo. I also liked seeing Jane as the master of her own time. Not at the behest of a friend, nor in a busy city, just sort of solitary and directing her own actions in the rural village. The plot - the stolen chest, the fabled rubies - was a bit hokey, though, and I felt the mystery, when revealed, was kind of a let down. I'm torn, the experience of reading was definitely 5/5, but in hindsight, thinking about it as a whole, maybe 3/5.
October 23, 2023
Jane's still reeling from the shocking development at the end of the previous book (and I am too, frankly), which brings personal, emotional weight to the mystery in this one. Not necessarily to the dead body she finds in her new home, but to the eventual theft of something very important to her.
It's a great mystery that pairs nicely with a period in Jane's life than I'm excited about: her settling into a permanent home after all the traveling and visiting she and her family have been doing through pretty much the entire series. And we're finally getting to the point where she'll start publishing some books, again thanks to events in these novels.
It's a great mystery that pairs nicely with a period in Jane's life than I'm excited about: her settling into a permanent home after all the traveling and visiting she and her family have been doing through pretty much the entire series. And we're finally getting to the point where she'll start publishing some books, again thanks to events in these novels.
January 19, 2024
I was so unprepared to read in the author's end note that Jane Austen spent the last 8 years of her life at Chawton. Sad - she died so young! I appreciate this series for introducing me to Jane Austen. I suppose when I finish the series I can read some of her own books, etc. (I have already but more intentionally). Still, sad.
This book was a return to non-action mystery solving with 0 explosions and mostly just manners and taking 2 hours to go 15 miles by horse drawn carriage. I do so enjoy all the research that has gone into blending historical fact with fiction, and it was apparent here.
This book was a return to non-action mystery solving with 0 explosions and mostly just manners and taking 2 hours to go 15 miles by horse drawn carriage. I do so enjoy all the research that has gone into blending historical fact with fiction, and it was apparent here.
July 26, 2024
I have now read nine volumes of the "Being a Jane Austen Mystery" series (it should be noted that "Jane and His Lordship's Legacy" is volume #8, but I read volume #9 "Jane and the Barque of Frailty" prior to this one) and the books just keep getting better! This one is my favorite one, yet! So many plot twists and turns! Stephanie Barron beautifully captures the brilliant mind of Jane Austen, with albeit fictional elements. Can't wait to read Volume #10! (Fun fact-- "Jane and His Lordship's Legacy" ends on July 26th, 1809. I finished this book today-- July 26th 2024, exactly 215 years after this novel takes place! I thought that was a neat coincidence!)
October 18, 2024
This book has been on my shelf for some time. I picked it up finally to meet the requirements of a challenge I'm doing. Jane is a smart cookie and is strong willed which is not a characteristic of women in her time. A gift from the deceased love of her life arrives and is stolen. A dead body is found in the cellar of her new home. What a homecoming gift! This immediately sets her on the trail of the murderer and ends up leading her into danger.
It took me a while to get into the book. The beginning started very slowly, and I had to work my way through it. After about half the book, the story got very interesting.
An okay read. Not a keeper on my shelf.
It took me a while to get into the book. The beginning started very slowly, and I had to work my way through it. After about half the book, the story got very interesting.
An okay read. Not a keeper on my shelf.
January 8, 2019
Ero molto titubante, dato il finale del precedente libro.
Non volevo leggere più questa saga, ma ormai avevo comprato il libro quindi tanto valeva leggerlo.
Sì, manca la presenza di lord Harold e sì, le indagini senza di lui perdono un po' del loro fascino.
Questo libro, non mi ha entusiasmato come gli altri, benché offra vari misteri: la sparizione dei documenti del furfante gentiluomo, un cadavere nella cantina delle donne Austen e altri delitti.
Una lettura malinconica, proprio perché manca una figura importante che donava ai precedenti libri un brivido e un'euforia in più.
Non volevo leggere più questa saga, ma ormai avevo comprato il libro quindi tanto valeva leggerlo.
Sì, manca la presenza di lord Harold e sì, le indagini senza di lui perdono un po' del loro fascino.
Questo libro, non mi ha entusiasmato come gli altri, benché offra vari misteri: la sparizione dei documenti del furfante gentiluomo, un cadavere nella cantina delle donne Austen e altri delitti.
Una lettura malinconica, proprio perché manca una figura importante che donava ai precedenti libri un brivido e un'euforia in più.
August 28, 2021
Stephanie Barron continues her fictional, but so realistic, series of mysteries involving the real life author Jane Austin. Like all the books in this series it is exceptionally well researched and believable.
This is one of the better mysteries in the series, with so many clever red herrings to confuse the reader. As always, the characters are so well drawn and they really give you a glimpse into the social mores of the time.
Barron really excels at bringing the country village setting to life and the entire series is just fun to read!
This is one of the better mysteries in the series, with so many clever red herrings to confuse the reader. As always, the characters are so well drawn and they really give you a glimpse into the social mores of the time.
Barron really excels at bringing the country village setting to life and the entire series is just fun to read!
May 9, 2020
As soon as I finished “Jane and the Ghosts of Netley,” I started “His Lordship’s Legacy.” I flew through this book! I highly recommend reading these books together/back to back. You don’t have to, but it’s very satisfying to do so.
Since Jane and her mother have relocated to Chawton, we get to explore her new home/neighbors/ neighborhood with her. Very fun read! This series is five stars all the way!
Since Jane and her mother have relocated to Chawton, we get to explore her new home/neighbors/ neighborhood with her. Very fun read! This series is five stars all the way!
November 24, 2021
Jane and the family move to a village. They are in diminished circumstances, and Jane is dealing with her personal loss. It isn't exactly a welcoming community, which sort of becomes a sub-plot. I like the social mores aspects of the novels about Jane Austen and her family. The detective plot seems a bit more strained than usual in this novel, but — as I've noted — the setting and the interplay of the characters was intriguing.
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