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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823
EAN num: 9780553578409
ISBN number: 0553578405
Label: Bantam Books
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 347
Printing Date: October 29, 2002
Publishing house: Bantam Books
Release Date: October 29, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 69472
Studio: Bantam Books
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Product Description:
In her sixth engrossing outing, Jane Austen employs her delicious wit and family ties to the Royal Navy in a case of murder on the high seas. Somewhere in the picturesque British port of Southampton, among a crew of colorful, eccentric, and fiercely individual souls, a killer has come ashore. And only Jane can fathom the depths of his ruthless mind....
Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House
“I will assert that sailors are endowed with greater worth than any set of men in England.”
So muses Jane Austen as she stands in the buffeting wind of Southampton’s quay beside her brother Frank on a raw February morning. Frank, a post captain in the Royal Navy, is without a ship to command, and his best prospect is the Stella Maris, a fast frigate captained by his old friend Tom Seagrave.
“Lucky” Tom — so dubbed for his habit of besting enemy ships — is presently in disgrace, charged with violating the Articles of War. Tom’s very first lieutenant, Eustace Chessyre, has accused Seagrave of murder in the death of a French captain after the surrender of his ship.
Though Lucky Tom denies the charge, his dagger was found in the dead man’s chest. Now Seagrave faces court-martial and execution for a crime he swears he did not commit.
Frank, deeply grieved, is certain his friend will hang. But Jane reasons that either Seagrave or Chessyre is lying — and that she and Frank have a duty to discover the truth.
The search for the captain’s honor carries them into the troubled heart of Seagrave’s family, through some of the seaport’s worst sinkholes, and at long last to Wool House, the barred brick structure that serves as gaol for French prisoners of war.
Risking contagion or worse, Jane agrees to nurse the murdered French captain’s imprisoned crew — and elicits a debonair surgeon’s account of the Stella Maris’s battle that appears to clear Tom Seagrave of all guilt.
When Eustace Chessyre is found murdered, the entire affair takes on the appearance of an insidious plot against Seagrave, who is charged with the crime. Could any of his naval colleagues wish him dead? In an era of turbulent intrigue and contested amour, could it be a case of cherchez la femme ... or a veiled political foe at work? And what of the sealed orders under which Seagrave embarked that fateful night in the Stella Maris? Death knocks again at Jane’s own door before the final knots in the killer’s net are completely untangled.
Always surprising, Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House is an intelligent and intriguing mystery that introduces Jane and her readers to “the naval set” — and charts a true course through the amateur sleuth’s most troubled waters yet.
From the Hardcover edition.
Amazon.com Review:
The acute powers of observation that marked Jane Austen's brilliant authorial career serve her equally well as a sleuth, as Barron's popular series has demonstrated in five earlier outings. Here, Barron uses Austen's well- documented interest in the Royal Navy as the linchpin of the plot. Jane's brother Frank, an officer who served under Nelson at Trafalgar, can't believe that his friend Tom Seagrave, commanding officer of the Stella Maris, killed the captain of the French frigate Manon moments after he'd surrendered his ship to Seagrave, despite the testimony of a junior officer. Ministering to the French prisoners of war housed at the Wool House of the title, Jane soon discovers another witness to the incident, a dashing and romantic surgeon whose account might save Seagrave from the gallows. As usual, Barron evokes the social, domestic, and cultural scene of England in the glory days of the empire with the wit, charm, and verve that mark her heroine's literary legacy. --Jane Adams
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
I've read every one of the books in the Jane Austen Mystery series. For those who love Austen and mysteries, these novels provide the perfect combination. I've recommended the series to friends, those who are passionate readers just like me.
Rated by buyers -
Another Jane Austen mystery by Stephanie Barron. I've read most of these and enjoy them very much. They are a must for any fan of mysteries and Jane Austen. They are all good.
Rated by buyers 
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Comprised of a series of journals, lately discovered in the cellar of an old American house, the Jane Austin mysteries have much to offer for history buffs and mystery-lovers alike. One is able to see very first hand the author's views on the politics of her time and social responsibilities, as well as the inspirations for her beloved characters in Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and the like. It is a sheer pleasure to peruse the thoughts of Jane's sharp mind and cunning wit as she puts other detectives to shame. These books are a most charming pleasure, both entertaining and "improving the mind through extensive reading." There are 8 titles in the Jane Austen Mystery Series.
Rated by buyers -
Once I began the very first book by Stephanie Baron in this series, I ask my brother, "Do you think she can write faster than I can read? because I cannot put this down." Both he and I read all the books available but now are left starving so to speak, having nothing left but the want for more. Someone call BBC and have them all made into beautiful films like A&E's Pride & Prejudice.
Rated by buyers -
I continue to be impressed with how comfortable Stephanie Barron has made herself in Jane Austen's shoes and world. In her introductions to each of the books, Barron accounts that these tales are 'diaries' written by Austen that she is merely editing. The sixth book in her Jane Austen mysteries is as strong as the previous ones, interweaving facts of Jane's life with the fiction of Barron's mysterious imaginings.
"Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House" finds our beloved heroine in Southampton, 1807, awaiting installation at her brother's new home. Her brother, Frank Austen, is an officer with the Royal Navy, resigned to living on land, but longing to return to sea. He quickly learns that his wish is to be granted, but only at the cost of a friendship. His longtime friend, Captain Tom Seagrave, is accused of murdering the captain of a French ship they overtook in battle. Frank knows his friend to be innocent, and enlists his sister's sleuthing skills to uncover the truth of the matter. Jane soon finds herself ministering to the French prisoners of war, where she meets a man who could clear the Captain's name. But before he can do so, another murder is committed and unexpected happenings confuse the real mystery at hand.
As with her previous works, Barron has totally immersed herself in Jane Austen's world. For Austen fans it is almost as if these fictional mysteries were Austen's recovered diaries, for Barron pays her due justice. "Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House" is a worthy addition to the series, and I look forward to reading the subsequent entries.
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