Jane and the Wandering Eye

It's evident from the opening lines of Jane and the Wandering Eye that author Stephanie Barron knows both her Regency-period England and her Jane Austen. In this novel, the famous author takes center stage and finds herself embroiled in nefarious doings--in this case, the murder of a theater manager. As in the series' other books, Jane herself tells the story through a series of journal entries, and it is in her heroine's voice that Barron's genius comes to light: the same sharp eye for detail and ironic understanding of human character that informed Miss Austen's novels are hard at work in this fictional account of her sideline occupation as a sleuth. Though the mystery at the heart of Jane and the Wandering Eye is hardly a nail-biter, the wonderful mix of fictional and historical characters--all rendered up with Austenian wit--that inhabit this murderous comedy of manners are what will keep readers going to the very last page--and coming back for more.