Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron (Jane Austen Mysteries, #10)

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Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron (Jane Austen Mysteries #10)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 485 ratings · 117 reviews

The restorative power of the ocean brings Jane Austen and her beloved brother Henry, to Brighton after Henry’s wife is lost to a long illness. But the crowded, glittering resort is far from peaceful, especially when the lifeless body of a beautiful young society miss is discovered in the bedchamber of none other than George Gordon—otherwise known as Lord Byron. As a poet a...more

Paperback, 339 pages

Published September 28th 2010 by Bantam (first published September 22nd 2010)

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Community Reviews

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Feb 02, 2012 karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: what-would-byron-do, dbr, distant-lands

this was not intended to be a DBR, but know that it is hot, and i am drinking these incredibly girly "green apple bite" smirnoff ices. many of them. ice cold and delicious.so my plan is to lucidly elucidate why me and this book didn't get along, but it might take me a while to collect my thoughts as i sit here and pound these things, so who knows what will happen by the end of it all. we may indeed get a little D.

i honestly don't know who this series is for.

austen fans seem to love them. not aus...more

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Oct 07, 2010 Laurel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: austen-inspired, austen-sequel, mystery, regency-era-fiction

One thinks of Jane Austen as a retiring spinster who writes secretly, prefers her privacy and enjoys quiet walks in the Hampshire countryside. Instead, she has applied her intuitive skills of astute observation and deductive reasoning to solve crime in Stephanie Barron’s Austen inspired mystery series. It is an ingenious paradox that would make even Gilbert and Sullivan green with envy. The perfect pairing of the unlikely with the obvious that happens occasionally in great fiction by authors cle...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery, jane-austen

My initial reaction the whole premise of this series: "Jane Austen solves mysteries" was "Totally ridiculous, but could be crazy enough to be decently entertaining in a so bad it's good kind of way."

One chapter in, and I knew I had pegged this series all wrong.

Stephanie Barron masterfully blends fact and fiction, weaving her story around Jane Austen's actual life, family, and acquaintances, that it feels entirely plausible that Jane Austen really did go around solving murder mysteries. The ton...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pride-prejudice-homage-sequels, favourite-series

After a bit of a gap, I was very happy to have a new installment of the Jane Austen mystery series! While not my favourite ever, this was another good read.

After the sad death of her brother Henry's wife Eliza, whom Jane was also very close with, they both need a bit of peace and quiet to mourn. Jane decides she and Henry will go to Brighton to take the waters, and enjoy the sea air in hopes they can both remember Eliza as she would have wished - happily and without grieving.

Of course, no matter...more After a bit of a gap, I was very happy to have a new installment of the Jane Austen mystery series! While not my favourite ever, this was another good read.

After the sad death of her brother Henry's wife Eliza, whom Jane was also very close with, they both need a bit of peace and quiet to mourn. Jane decides she and Henry will go to Brighton to take the waters, and enjoy the sea air in hopes they can both remember Eliza as she would have wished - happily and without grieving.

Of course, no matter where she goes, Jane Austen seems to become embroiled in murder and mystery, and the visit to Brighton is no different.

As they stop at an inn to change horses on their way to Brighton, Jane hears pounding from inside another carriage and discovers a young girl bound and gagged inside. She clearly needs immediate assistance, which Jane and Henry offer, helping her to get free and offering assistance to get her back to her family.

Both Jane and Henry are astonished when the girl, Catherine tell them that her abducter is none other than George Gordon, Lord Byron. And Byron himself comes out just in time to see the Austen spirit away the object of his desire, and expresses his fury clearly.

Soon after returning Catherine to her father, a General, who is not at all appreciative of Jane's assistance, and is quite abusive to his daughter, Jane goes on to her Brighton lodgings thinking the situation resolved.

Unfortunately, with Catherine living in Brighton, Jane is fated to see her again and become reluctantly involved in helping her out of continuing difficulties. So when the young girl is found dead, sewn inside a sail from Byron's boat and IN HIS BED, it looks fairly clear that Byron is responsible.

Jane isn't certain, however, and along with help from the niece of Jane's deceased love Lord Harold, Desdemona, who happens to also be in Brighton, she is determined to find out the truth of the matter.

As always Stephanie Barron does a wonderful job combining factual parts of Austen's real life and history with fictional storylines into a good plot. She also captures faithfully and entertainingly the style, manners, speech-patterns, and behaviours that people of the time would have demonstrated. The character of Jane is spunky and smart and just irreverent enough to be believeable as a sleuth, and the assistance of some of the friends in high places she can call on makes the things she gets into plausible enough not to detract from the reader's ability to dive into the story completely.(less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Mary Simonsen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron by Stephannie Barron is a multi-layered Regency mystery, and the sleuth is none other than Jane Austen. Following the death of Henry Austen’s wife, Eliza, Comtesse de Feuillide, Jane and her brother make arrangements to visit the seaside town of Brighton. However, their plans for a quiet interlude fall by the wayside when a stop at a posting inn results in Jane and Henry rescuing a young lady, Catherine Twining, from a forced elopement with the scandal-ridden L...more

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Oct 29, 2011 solaret rated it 2 of 5 stars

Pride and Prejudice is the only pure romance that I love. I've read Pride and Prejudice several times, ever since my high school teacher assigned it for a homework assignment. (The guys in the class were appropriately horrified, of course.) Lord of the Dead was also a book that I deeply enjoyed reading. It is, as indicated by the title, a recasting of Lord Byron in the role of a vampire. Filled with exotic climes and debauchery, I found the Byron depicted by Tom Holland decidedly appealing. So w...more Pride and Prejudice is the only pure romance that I love. I've read Pride and Prejudice several times, ever since my high school teacher assigned it for a homework assignment. (The guys in the class were appropriately horrified, of course.) Lord of the Dead was also a book that I deeply enjoyed reading. It is, as indicated by the title, a recasting of Lord Byron in the role of a vampire. Filled with exotic climes and debauchery, I found the Byron depicted by Tom Holland decidedly appealing. So when I caught a glimpse of Jane Austen and Byron placed together in this book, well... it should have been incredible.

There's something odd about trying to mix the two people. Lord Byron is known for being a dark, mysterious poet; Jane Austen more for romance and light-hearted comedy. So while a great author might be able to mix these together into an wonderful book, Stephanie Barron doesn't quite pull it off. There's interludes of Byron, who comes off as a quintessential "bad boy" whose true personality is never pinned down though he seems to be pretending to be a tortured poet more than he actually is one, and then there's Jane, whose practicality and interest in society makes a weird contrast. It's like reading two books, almost - one is a thriller/mystery story and the other is about Austen's court scandals and dresses.

Speaking of which, how often does the actual Jane Austen reference fashion in her books, unless it was to make a point? I realize that Austen's life must have been meticulously researched, since it says so in the editor's footnotes, but there's entirely too much about dresses in Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron.

For something else to nitpick at, there's Byron's early reference to Austen as being a greater writer than himself. That's... no. No. I can't imagine that the actual Byron would ever think such a thing, and even Stephanie Barron's Byron is otherwise too arrogant to say such a thing. Yet his admission of her as the better writer is just tossed in there, and nothing ever actually happens! It seems as though this part was just tossed in to flatter the heroine. Good grief, they don't even write in the same genres! Anyway, I found this part wildly improbable and, though it was such a small part, detracting from my enjoyment of the rest of the novel.

However, I realize that my criticism of the mentions of fashion and Lord Byron's one, easily edited out portion calling Jane a better writer are small things to complain about. So here's something more important. The fictional Jane Austen is fairly useless. Yes, she was a woman during a time when women (especially ones of her status) had little leverage. But still, she did almost nothing to advance the investigation. Desdemona, Countess of Swithin (who is also Austen's dead lover's niece? I haven't read the preceding books in the series); the Count of Swithin, Mona's (short for Desdemona) husband; and Austen's brother Henry are the ones who actually do things in the story. Mona is the one who pressures Jane into taking on the investigation and the one who drags her around to talk to female witnesses/suspects and Henry is the one who talks to the male witnesses/suspects. Jane just moves along until the final piece of evidence gets dropped into her lap, and she figures it out with her super literary skills. No, really, that's how she solves the case.

It's an entertaining, quick read, but unsatisfying when you reach the end. And Byron barely even shows up - I think he only appears in four scenes, at most.(less)

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Oct 12, 2011 Suspense Magazine rated it 4 of 5 stars

To read this series is to be transported to Regency England, to the decadence of the Prince Regent that flourished alongside the strict morals professed by the proper folk. It's as if Stephanie Barron time-traveled to 1813 to absorb every nuance of custom and conversation, then hurried back to set it all down for us. The fascinating, bizarre cast includes the Prince Regent, of course (Prinny), Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb. These last two dissolute characters, the author says, were actually...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Lauren Fidler rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: abusive-relationships, predictable-villain, jane-austen, makes-me-wish-i-had-a-map, mindroterrific, not-first-in-series, close-your-eyes-do-it-for-england, didn-t-read-the-first-and-this-is-t, geek-porn, journal-fiction

this was a total impulse "purchase" at the library. seconds away from checkout, this wee paperback called to me from the new releases. it seemed a perfect blend of all things i like: jane austen, murder mysteries, and oversexed romantic poets. how could it miss?!?

it missed, most obviously, by slavishly developing the historical elements rather than the characters. in fact, by page 50, if she had dropped the words "jaconet" or "salad days" or "publickly" one more time, i was tempted to put the bo...more this was a total impulse "purchase" at the library. seconds away from checkout, this wee paperback called to me from the new releases. it seemed a perfect blend of all things i like: jane austen, murder mysteries, and oversexed romantic poets. how could it miss?!?

it missed, most obviously, by slavishly developing the historical elements rather than the characters. in fact, by page 50, if she had dropped the words "jaconet" or "salad days" or "publickly" one more time, i was tempted to put the book down. we get it; it's regency. women wear muslin! men wear pantaloons! focus on making jane more dimensional instead of fixating on setting or dress, please,and you'll have yourself a better series.

and, yes, i "get" that barron is trying to follow the style of austen's novels, and talking about who's who and what they're all wearing is part and parcel of that. but when i picked up this book, i had hoped that it would be a clear deviation from the factual. think: jane austen as a regency nancy drew! unless jane encountered many a dead body in her day, i don't think it should be that hard to do. but going back and forth between adhering staunchly to the historical fact and then dallying in the fantasy is confusing and clunky.

i dare say i do not much care for it.

the mystery here is fairly blah. the victim is pretty easy to pick out of the early line-up of folks, the murderer even more so, and byron is a deliciously skeevy drunkard. everyone else is sort of interchangeable.

the reason jane austen's novels are so popular isn't because they defy predictability or because they solely revolve around character development. austen wrote with a quick wit and a deft hand, and those two traits are difficult to emulate by anyone at any time. when austen wrote about style and fashion, it was to make a comment on her own society. when she added a character, it was to provide a clear service to the text. barron's attempts at mimicry fall painfully short and remind me of fan fiction.

i'll still read the other 10, though.(less)

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Jan 11, 2011 Merand rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent! This latest offering in the Jane Austen mystery series was well written, highly entertaining, and kept me guessing. I have read all of the books in this series and have highly enjoyed it and would recommend it. The first couple of books are a bit on the quiet side but once you get caught up in the series and the recurring characters, you can't help but be sucked in. I think Madness had an even more engrossing mystery than usual, not to mention Jane's brother Henry is greatly involved,...more

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Oct 29, 2010 Angie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Georgette Heyer meets Miss Marple!
Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron is the tenth in a series of mysteries featuring Jane Austen, told in her own words through the medium of her diary. In this adventure, Jane accompanies her brother Henry to Brighton to take in the sea after he loses his wife to breast cancer. The “trendy” resort seems to be peopled by everyone of note in society, including the Regent and the poet Lord Byron. Given the libertine ways of both, it may come as no real surprise that...more Georgette Heyer meets Miss Marple!
Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron is the tenth in a series of mysteries featuring Jane Austen, told in her own words through the medium of her diary. In this adventure, Jane accompanies her brother Henry to Brighton to take in the sea after he loses his wife to breast cancer. The “trendy” resort seems to be peopled by everyone of note in society, including the Regent and the poet Lord Byron. Given the libertine ways of both, it may come as no real surprise that a young woman of good family is found murdered in Lord Byron’s bed, and Byron is accused of her murder. Although she strongly disapproves of Lord Byron’s character, Jane cannot refuse a friend’s request to find the truth and clear the poet if he is indeed innocent.
This installment of the Jane as Sleuth series is more Georgette Heyer than Miss Marple. The social scene in Brighton is vivid, and fascinating descriptions of the social order of the time make for interesting reading. The murder does not occur until more than a third of the way into the book, and even after the body is found the investigation takes a backseat to descriptions of the social life of the bon ton and the mores of 1813. The description of society was entertaining, but the primary plot element of murder was not gripping enough to make this a truly engrossing read, especially in the absence of any secondary element such as a love story.
Character development could also be stronger. Jane’s brother Henry and her friend Mona gain some life, but too many of the other characters are pure cardboard. Even in the social culture of the times, it is especially difficult to believe that so many mature and powerful men would be so besotted with one fifteen-year-old girl, no matter how attractive she was. The girl herself also seems too clueless to be credible. Her father the General, in turn, lacks any redeeming social value and is rude enough that I suspect he would have been ostracized despite his rank.
Despite some weaknesses, if you are a comedy-of-manners fan of authors like Georgette Heyer or Jane herself, you will probably find a lot to like in this book. True mystery fans would probably be happier elsewhere.
Jane’s language has a feel of authenticity, but I felt unsure enough of my command of early-nineteenth-century English that I wondered how much I could depend on its verisimilitude. An interview with Stephanie Barron included at the end of the book convinced me that Ms. Barron has done her homework. I especially appreciate an author of a historical novel clarifying for me what is authentic and what is pure fiction. In case you wonder, Lord Byron was NOT accused of murdering a young woman in Brighton, but it DOES make for a good story. Enjoy.
(less)

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Dec 10, 2010 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: england, historical-fiction

The latest entry in Stephanie Barron's entertaining Jane Austen murder mysteries series is, frankly, the best yet.

In this tale, Miss Austen and her recently widowed brother are on their way to Brighton when they rescue a Miss Caroline Twining from abduction at the hands of George Gordon, Lord Byron. The plot thickens when, shortly after the Austens' arrival in the seaside town, Miss Twining's drowned corpse is found in Lord Byron's bed. Byron is arrested for the murder, declaiming his innocence...more

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Apr 15, 2011 Mandolin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Stephanie Barron never fails to impress me with her research into Jane Austen's life and her attempts to make this mystery series as plausible as possible. In this installment, Barron once again devises a plot that is believable and beautifully weaves a mystery made of a nice blend of fact with fiction.

Bereft after the loss of her beloved sister-in-law, Eliza, Jane accompanies her brother Henry to the seaside resort of Brighton, where the Prince Regent and haut ton are gathering for another Sea...more Stephanie Barron never fails to impress me with her research into Jane Austen's life and her attempts to make this mystery series as plausible as possible. In this installment, Barron once again devises a plot that is believable and beautifully weaves a mystery made of a nice blend of fact with fiction.

Bereft after the loss of her beloved sister-in-law, Eliza, Jane accompanies her brother Henry to the seaside resort of Brighton, where the Prince Regent and haut ton are gathering for another Season of dancing, gaming and debauchery. The two don't find the peace they seek, however, for an encounter with Lord Byron, George Gordon, on the road to Brighton sets the stage of mystery and intrigue that will follow in the town. Outside a coaching inn, Jane discovers a young girl, Catherine Twinings, bound hand and foot by the infamous poet in a desperate attempt to force her hand in marriage at Gretna Green. Jane and Henry rescue Catherine, only to deliver her to Brighton where her body will later be found, lifeless, in Byron's rented rooms. Byron's reputation for scandal is well-known, but is he a murderer as well? Most of the town seems to assume so, but it falls to Jane, with the help of the Countess of Swithin and other notables, to discover the truth. Their search is complicated by the scenes caused by the antics of Byron's spurned lover, Caro Lamb, and the lies told by many of the suspects: General Twinings, Catherine's abusive and overbearing father; Scrope Davies, Byron's long-suffering and sacrificing best friend; Hanger, the Prince Regent's skirt-chasing confidante and several others.

Although the action is necessarily sedate, the book is exciting enough to draw the reader in and hold her interest until the end. The characters are well-drawn and their social interactions are some of the best sections of the book....just like a real Austen novel! I miss the Gentleman Rogue, Jane's one romantic interest in this series, and think that his loss has slightly dulled my enjoyment of the books but this addition to the series was still highly satisfying.(less)

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Nov 20, 2011 Nathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, mystery

I admit it: I like candy mysteries and cliche-ridden thrillers. I grew up on Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley, Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie, and Hammond Innes: masters of the craft (irregular masters, in the case of MacLean). I can lose myself in a well-written mystery, and even the ones that don't click for me are still hours of reading that I don't regret. "Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron" is definitely a candy mystery. It's comfortable, not shocking, and with the run-on-at-the-mouth "oh my...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: british, historical, mystery

I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen's novels, although I'm getting a little "Austened" out lately, what with all the movies and novels and so on based on either her work or her persona. I don't know exactly what urge made me request this as a free review copy from the Amazon Vine program; maybe it was because I was reading "The Hunger Games," and was ready for the sedate elegance of Regency England for a chance of pace. In any event, I enjoyed this book far more than I ever expected to. It imagines Ja...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

It had been awhile since I read this author - I think she wrote at least one stand-alone book since the last entry in this series. I've read all of the "Jane" mysteries and am glad Barron is working on the next installment; being both a Jane Austen lover and a mystery buff, I find the combination irresistible! Especially when handled so expertly - Barron really captures the dry, witty tone of Jane Austen's works, but she writes from Jane's self-deprecating POV, and it's fun to read her imaginary...more

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Dec 13, 2010 Dorothy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-mysteries

This Jane Austen pastiche series by Stephanie Barron, in which Jane appears as the solver of mysteries, is great fun to read. Any fan of Austen's writing will immediately feel at home in one of these books. Barron does a creditable job of imitating Austen's style of writing, even using the unique turns of phrase that often appear in Austen's books to convince us that these are, in fact, memoirs written by the Great Jane.

This is the 10th book in the series, not my favorite of the lot but still an...more This Jane Austen pastiche series by Stephanie Barron, in which Jane appears as the solver of mysteries, is great fun to read. Any fan of Austen's writing will immediately feel at home in one of these books. Barron does a creditable job of imitating Austen's style of writing, even using the unique turns of phrase that often appear in Austen's books to convince us that these are, in fact, memoirs written by the Great Jane.

This is the 10th book in the series, not my favorite of the lot but still an extremely entertaining read.

As the book opens, we find Jane about to lose her beloved sister-in-law Eliza to breast cancer. Her brother Henry summons Jane to Eliza's bedside where she remains until the end. She then perceives that she and her bereaved brother are in need of a holiday to restore their spirits. Off they go to the glittering resort of Brighton which proves to be not very restful at all.

Also in residence at Brighton is the "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" Lord Byron. Jane and Henry soon learn first hand that His Lordship's reputation as a seducer of women is no fable, as they must rescue a young girl of fifteen years from his grasp. A few days later this young girl's body is found after having been drowned, sewn into a sack and left on what had been the bed of Lord Byron at an inn in Brighton. Has Byron killed the object of his lust or does someone hate him enough to want to make it seem so?

Soon Jane encounters Desdemona, the niece of her own lost love, Lord Harold, the man she refers to as the Gentleman Rogue, and together, the two women, with the help of Henry and Desdemona's husband, set out to find the truth about who killed the young woman. Public opinion and the powers that be have already decided that Byron is the culprit, but Jane doubts that he is capable of murder. Will she be able to prove it before the poet meets the hangman?

Stephanie Barron does a masterful job of recreating the social milieu and atmosphere of early 19th century England and she constructs mysteries that are lively and believable. The reader sinks into the story and can easily feel herself slipping back to that time. This series should certainly entertain any lover of Austen, or, for that matter, any lover of mysteries. (less)

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Mar 27, 2013 Jean rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: regency, mystery, lpl, historical-fiction

It's been eons since I picked up a novel in the Jane Austen Mysteries. I generally am not a fan of the first-person narrative but I liked the epistolary style used in the storytelling. The mystery is unveiled through Jane's eyes and recounted by her. The novel does spend half of it setting up the mystery introducing the characters and the other half dealing with the actual mystery.

The one thing I don't like is the passiveness of the narrative. While we may be in the first person, the story resid...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Jane Austen fans, historical mystery fans

Shelves: historical-setting, mystery, story-doorway, setting-doorway, cozy-mystery

Jane Austen is back to sleuthing in Stephanie Barron's latest mystery. This time Jane's sister-in-law Eliza has just died of what seems to be breast cancer, so Jane accompanies her brother Henry to Brighton to flee the overwhelming melancholy of his house in London. En route to Brighton, the duo rescue a teenage girl tied up in a carriage. She's been abducted by Lord Byron, the famous poet who has become obsessed with her. Jane and Henry return her to her father, General Twining, and go on about...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Melbourne on my mind rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, historical-fiction, 2012

Technically, I think this is probably more like a 3.5 star rating. I liked it a lot, but not quite four stars worth. I really enjoyed the addition of Desdemona - Lord Harold's niece - to the story. It allowed the opportunity of adding Lord Harold back into the story after his death.

The story had all the elements of one of Austen's novels - a naive girl, a tyrannical father, a young rake out to destroy a woman's reputation, and the death of a loved one. In this case, however, the young rake is L...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Meredith (Austenesque Reviews) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: jane-austen

The Being A Jane Austen Mystery Series by Stephanie Barron is a brilliant series of novels that features our beloved Jane Austen being thrust into the midst of mystery, murder and mayhem. In each novel Jane Austen uses her astute observational skills, keen understanding of human nature, and fierce determination to solve various mysteries. Each novel follows the time line of Jane Austen's career and accurately portrays true events and people from her life. Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron takes...more

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Dec 05, 2011 Barbara Ell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mystery, historical-fiction, written-reviews

Reading this book reminds me of reading a Jane Austin novel, or some other Regency Era novel. The tone and the wording is so reminescent of that time.

This story takes place in Brighton in the spring when the Prince Regent is in town. Jane Austin and her brother decide to visit the town and Lord Byron just happens to be there. When a murder occurs, Lord Byron is accused. Jane must use her writer's ingenuity to uncover whether or not he actually committed the murder. While his lovers believe him i...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-mystery, mystery-england

Henry Austen's wife has died, and a grieving Henry, along with Jane, travel to Brighton, the most prominent of England's seashore resorts, where the Prince Regent himself leads the revels. On their way, the Austens help a young girl who is being kidnapped by the notorious poet and libertine, Lord Byron. Their paths cross with hers again in Brighton, and Jane also meets another acquaintance, who propels her into the heart of the ton. Byron's lover Lady Caroline Lamb also plays a role in the myste...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Eileen Granfors rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, environment, police-procedural-mystery, local-color

This is the 10th book in a series I didn't know about. Since Lord Byron was in the title, I picked it up. It is Jane-Austen-like, Jane as sleuth, with good period description. It's interesting in terms of the mystery (dead girl in Byron's room) but the dialogue lacks the razor wit of the real Jane Austen. I would call the book an entertainment--sometimes, we need to read for sheer entertainment, nothing life-changing going on, just a fun episode, like SVU or Criminal Minds without the science. T...more

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Oct 19, 2010 Evelina C rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1800s, hf-challenge-4, murder, stong-female, regency-period

I really enjoy this entire series("Being a Jane Austen Mystery") and found the tenth installment to be a quick, fun read. I would have liked to give 4 1/2-stars. Stephanie Barron's writing is tight, the dialogue sounds authentic, the setting of Brighton UK and the descriptions of the "haute ton" spot on. The character of Jane Austen as an amateur sleuth is so believable to me. Jane is inquisitve, intelligent, witty yet capable of deep emotions. I didn't give this book 5-stars because, in the end...more

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Oct 03, 2010 Jen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, regency

Number ten, and getting better with every volume. I was worried when she started her Victorian mysteries that she had given up on her Jane novels, but at last number ten has been published and there's mention of number eleven on its way.

Still impressed by the way she weaves her fiction in amongst the life of Jane Austen. This is certainly much more fiction than some of the others, but still entirely plausible.

I thought an end note from the author about how Byron was buried in the yard of Jane's...more

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Nov 19, 2010 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

I adore this series and gave a hearty "huzzah" when Barron returned to her attention to it after years spent on another. The tone is pitch-perfect, including the footnotes being a real hoot, the mystery & history engaging & enlivened especially when viewed through Austen's "journals" of the day's events. If you love Jane Austen, give yourself the gift of reading this series in order (no skipping!). Heart-ache and heart-break, just like Jane's books & life. Thankfully Barron announced...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, books-about-books

Allow me to damn this book with faint praise: it is far less offensive than any of the other Austen related fictions I have read. Mind you, I thought they were all, without exception, dreadful, so make of that what you will.

The concept of including Jane herself as a main character is interesting, and it avoids the obvious traps of continuing one of her stories. She is a bit of a blank slate (we know so little about her, due to a sister burning most of her correspondence) that it's easy enough to...more

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Dec 12, 2010 Alissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have always loved Jane Austen as a detective. Can you realistically see Jane as a detective? Probably not, but that's why imagination is so great! This was a fun read and I was glad to be immersed in Jane Austen's world again. It wasn't one of my most favorite from the series, but I think that's because I'm still in mourning for Lord Harold. There were some great comments made by Jane about how old she was(only 38)that made me laugh and be thankful I live now when old is more like, what?. . ....more

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Nov 16, 2010 Jan McClintock rated it 3 of 5 stars

A truly sad beginning mars this otherwise typical Jane Austin mystery, as a major character from the series dies. But there is no dearth of other acquaintances (and suspects) to fill the story with soap-opera angst and over-the-top aristocratic behavior in Regency Bath. Bad-boy Lord Byron and the ladies who swoon for him are fun to a point, but they became tiresome when not balanced by opposites in Jane's world. More introspection from Miss Austen would have been welcome, especially since some b...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Dana Stabenow rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jane lives! And so does Byron in this tenth novel in the Jane Austen series by Stephanie Barron. On their way to Brighton, Jane and her brother Henry rescue a fainting beauty from the fell clutches of Lord Byron, who has conceived a passion for the one woman in England able to resist his fatal allure. When the beauty is murdered, Byron falls under suspicion and Jane of course ferrets out the truth.

Barron makes England's Regency era come alive in the period detail, and the characters, especially...more Jane lives! And so does Byron in this tenth novel in the Jane Austen series by Stephanie Barron. On their way to Brighton, Jane and her brother Henry rescue a fainting beauty from the fell clutches of Lord Byron, who has conceived a passion for the one woman in England able to resist his fatal allure. When the beauty is murdered, Byron falls under suspicion and Jane of course ferrets out the truth.

Barron makes England's Regency era come alive in the period detail, and the characters, especially the sullen, sexy Lord Byron and the fey, feckless Lady Caroline Lamb fairly leap off the page. For Janeites there is much to enjoy in Jane's mental segues into Mansfield Park, the current work under construction:

I cannot like my poor Fanny, tho' her scruples are such as must command respect; I believe I shall spare the darling Henry such a cross, and bestow the lady upon her cousin Edmund -- who has earned her as a penance, for her utter lack of humour.

There are echoes of many of Austen's characters in the characters inhabiting Brighton during Jane's investigation, among them Mr. Forth, the Master of Ceremonies in the Assembly Rooms at Marine Parade, who will bring the character of Anne Elliot's father irresistibly to mind. At the time this novel is set, Pride and Prejudice has been published to much acclaim, and while with one exception the author's identity is still only that of "A Lady," we enjoy her fans' praise as much as she does.

Crime fiction fans will love Jane's businesslike investigation, too. In a time where physical evidence amounted to the body, eyewitness testimony is essential, and the list of questions that must be asked Jane draws up to begin with are pithy and very much to the point, and by listing them she and the reader come to a better understanding of the murder and what kind of a murderer she is looking for. Her interview of a drunken Byron is riveting, Jane really has a tiger by the tail, and at the end of the novel you will be convinced beyond all shadow of a doubt that he was indeed "mad, bad and dangerous to know."

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Jane Austen Sequels: Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron: Being a Jane Austen Mystery #10, by Stephanie Barron	1	7	Sep 03, 2010 07:58pm

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About Stephanie Barron

Librarian 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...more Librarian 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. (less)

More about Stephanie Barron...

Books by Stephanie Barron

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (Jane Austen Mysteries, #1)

Jane and the Man of the Cloth (Jane Austen Mysteries, #2)

Jane and the Wandering Eye (Jane Austen Mysteries, #3)

Jane and the Genius of the Place (Jane Austen Mysteries, #4)

Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House (Jane Austen Mysteries, #6)

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7756035-jane-and-the-madness-of-lord-byron?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320512396l/7756035.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7756035-jane-and-the-madness-of-lord-byron?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron by Stephanie Barron[/url]

Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron (Jane Austen Mysteries #10)

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