Love, Danger, Homecomings & Heart β Your June Reading Escape Starts Here
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Murder at Mansfield Park takes Jane Austenβs masterpiece and
turns it into a riveting murder story worthy of PD James or
Agatha Christie. Just as in many classic English detective
mysteries, this new novel opens with a group of characters
in a country house setting, with passions running high, and
simmering tensions beneath the elegant Regency surface. The
arrival of the handsome and debonair Henry Crawford and his
sister forces these tensions into the open, and sparks a
chain of events that leads inexorably to violence and death.
Beautifully written, with an absolute faithfulness to the
language in use at the time, Murder at Mansfield Park is
both a good old-fashioned murder mystery that keeps the
reader guessing until the very last page, and a sparklingly
clever inversion of the original, which goes to the heart of
many of the questions raised by Jane Austenβs text. Austenβs
Mansfield Park is radically different from any of her other
works, and much of the pleasure of Lynn Shepherdβs novel
lies in the way it takes the characters and episodes in the
original, and turns them into a lighter, sharper, and more
playful book, with a new heroine at its centre β a heroine
who owes far more to the lively and spirited Elizabeth
Bennet, than the dreary and insipid Fanny Price.
A treat for Austen lovers and murder mystery aficionados alike.
Excerpt Murder at Mansfield Park β an excerpt
There has been a gruesome murder at Mansfield, and in his
fatherβs absence Tom Bertram has summoned a thief taker from
London, to help solve the crime.
Now read onβ¦
Mary sat for a few minutes deliberating whether it would be
best to return to the parsonage; her sister must be
wondering where she was. She was still debating the matter
when she heard the sound of a carriage on the drive, and
went to the window. It was a very handsome equipage, but the
horses were post; and neither the carriage, nor the coachman
who drove it, were familiar to her. The man who emerged was
a little above medium height, with rather strong features
and a visible scar above one eye. His clothes, however, were
fashionable and of very superior quality, and he stood for a
moment looking confidently about him, as if he was weighing
what he saw, and putting the intelligence aside for future
use. He was not handsome, or not, at least, in any
conventional manner, but there was some thing about him, a
sense of latent energy, of formidable powers held in check,
as might command attention, and draw every eye, even in the
most crowded of rooms. As she observed him ascend the steps
to the door, Mary did not need to overhear the servantβs
announcement to guess that the man before her eyes was none
other than Mr Charles Maddox.
A few moments later, this impressive and uncommon personage
was being shewn into Sir Thomasβs room, where Tom and Edmund
were awaiting him.Β The former had taken up the post of
honour behind his fatherβs desk, while his cousin was
standing by the window, evidently ill at ease. They had both
been to Oxford, and no doubt considered themselves men of
the world; but such a creature as Maddox was far beyond
their experience.
βGood day to you, sirs!β said their visitor, with the most
perfunctory of bows. βI admire your discernment. This will
do admirably.β
βI am not sure I understand you,β said Tom, who had not
expected such extraordinary self-assurance from a man who
was to be in his employ.
But Maddox had already assumed a proprietorial air, and was
wandering about the room, running his hand over the
furniture, and inspecting the view from the windows. βThis
will make a very suitable βseat of operationsβ, as I like to
call it. I will have my assistants set up in here.β
βBut
this is my fatherβs room - β began Tom, looking at him in
consternation.
Maddox waved his hand, βYou have nothing to fear on that
score, Mr Bertram. His house shall not be hurt.Β For every
thing of that nature, I will be answerable. And my men are
good men.Β They know how to behave themselves, even in such
a grand house as this one."
Tom and Edmund exchanged a look in which there was as much
anxiety on the one side, as there was reproof on the other;
the door then opened a second time, and two men appeared,
carrying a large trunk.Β One was tall and thin, with a
pock-marked face; the other short and stout, with a reddened
and weather-beaten complexion, and his fore-teeth gone. They
set down their burden heavily on the carpet, then departed
as they had come, without a word, but leaving behind them a
distinct waft of tobacco. Maddox, meanwhile, had installed
himself comfortably in an elbow-chair, without staying to be
asked.
βAnd now to business,β he said, genially. βYou agree to my
terms, both as to the daily rate, and the reward in the
event of an arrest?β
Tom endeavoured to regain the dignified manner suitable to
the head of such a house, and reclaim the mastery of the
situation, βWe consider ourselves fortunate to be able to
call upon a man of your reputation, Mr Maddox. Indeed, we
are relying on you to bring matters to a prompt and
satisfactory conclusion.β
βMy own aim, entirely,β said Maddox, with a smile. βAnd in
the pursuit of same, may I begin by examining the corpse?β
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