Jane and the Wandering Eye

Zusatztext "A glimpse of what Jane Austen's world was like! as well as an intriguing mystery."— Rocky Mountain News "Barron seamlessly weaves...a delightful and lively tale....Period details bring immediacy to a neatly choreographed dance through Bath society."— Publishers Weekly "Barron's high level of invention testifies to an easy acquaintance with upper-class life and culture in Regency England and a fine grasp of Jane Austen's own literary style—not to mention a mischievous sense of fun."— The New York Times Book Review Informationen zum Autor Stephanie Barron is the author of eight previous Jane Austen mysteries. She lives in Colorado, where she is at work on the next Jane Austen mystery. Klappentext As Christmas of 1804 approaches, Jane Austen finds herself "insupportably bored with Bath, and the littleness of a town." It is with relief that she accepts a peculiar commission from her Gentleman Rogue, Lord Harold Trowbridge—to shadow his niece, Lady Desdemona, who has fled to Bath to avoid the attentions of the unsavoury Earl of Swithin. But Jane's idle diversion turns deadly when a man is discovered stabbed to death in the Theatre Royal. Adding to the mystery is an unusual object found on the victim's body—a pendant that contains a portrait of an eye! As Jane's fascination with scandal leads her deeper into the investigation, it becomes clear that she will not uncover the truth without some dangerous playacting of her own.... Leseprobe "'If it were done,'" he began, in the hushed tone and slow pace appropriate to murderous thought, turning before our eyes like a cage'd tiger-- "when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If th' assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease, success; that but this blow--" (A long declining wail, as though uttered from within a tomb.) "I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, And falls on th' other--" The last words, whispered and yet utterly distinct, came like the gentle slip of leaves from a November bough; and his lips had scarcely ceased to move, when the applause that was his due rang forth in strenuous tumult. Every throat swelled with praise, and the madness of cheering all but blotted out Hugh Conyngham's gentler thanks. The actor's brilliant eye, and the fever of his cheek, spoke with firmer eloquence, however; and I read in his looks a grateful understanding. For such an one, as yet so young in the life of the stage--for he can be but thirty--to take his place among the Garricks and the Kembles, if only in the estimation as yet of Bath, must seem like glory, indeed. The cheering did not cease; the clapping hands acquired a measured beat; and it seemed as though Hugh Conyngham must bow to the desire of the guests, and speak on--when the tenor of the hoarsest cries declined by an octave, and gained a sudden accent of horror and dismay. The acutest attention o'erspread the actor's face; the crowd's mood changed as perceptibly as though an icy draught had blown out the blazing fire--and I turned, to perceive a stumbling knot of bodies caught in an anteroom doorway. "I fear some part of the Duchess's acquaintance are but too disguised in truth," I said to Anne Lefroy. "We had best make our adieux, and summon the chairs, before this rout turns to a riot." "Nonsense. It is nothing but a bit of theatre--the stabbing of Duncan, I suspect." She stepped towards the anteroom with the others, and protesting, I followed. Craning on tip-toe, the better to discern the man who had stolen Hugh Conyngham's scene, I comprehended a small salon to one side of the massive drawing-room, done up in Prussian blue picked out with gold. Its double doors were thrown wide and obscured by a pres...

Product details

• Authors: Stephanie Barron
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 03.11.1998
• EAN: 9780553578171
• ISBN: 978-0-553-57817-1
• No. of pages: 336
• Dimensions: 106 mm x 175 mm x 22 mm
• Series: Jane Austen Mysteries; Being A Jane Austen Mystery; Being a Jane Austen Mystery
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense