Kindle offer on Carrie Bebris books

I've received an email from new UK publisher, South Downs Crime & Mystery, and they have picked up the Carrie Benris series which features Austen's Mr and Mrs Darcy with the first three titles being 99p on Kindle for a brief time.

When Caroline Bingley marries a rich, charismatic American, her future should be secure. But strange incidents soon follow: nocturnal wanderings, spooked horses, carriage accidents, an apparent suicide attempt. Soon the whole Bingley family seems to be the target of a sinister plot, with only their friends the Darcys recognizing the danger. A jilted lover, an estranged business partner, a financially desperate in-law, an eccentric supernaturalist — who is behind these events? Perhaps it is Caroline herself, who appears to be slowly sinking into madness…

Pride and Prescience is the first novel in a series of romantic mysteries featuring Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as reluctant sleuths who become embroiled in intrigues surrounding their friends and family. The newlywed Darcys' courtship hasn't ended, and their adventures have just begun.

The publisher describes themselves thus: South Downs Crime & Mystery is a new independent publisher of cosy, historical and golden age mysteries. We believe crime doesn't always have to be bloody and that great characters, settings and plot are what make mysteries so satisfying.

And they have a Facebook page.

Jane Austen, Detective - Returns

I've posted about Jane Austen and crime before but here's what's Jane-related and coming out in the next few months:

From Stephanie Barron, after a three year gap, the eleventh in her Jane Austen as sleuth series, Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas, is published in the US next month:

Christmas Eve, 1814: Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday with family and friends at The Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home of the wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the year fades and friends begin to gather beneath the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmas festivities, Jane and her circle are in a celebratory mood: Mansfield Park is selling nicely; Napoleon has been banished to Elba; British forces have seized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams signs the Treaty of Ghent, which will end a war nobody in England really wanted.

Jane, however, discovers holiday cheer is fleeting. One of the Yuletide dies in a tragic accident whose circumstances Jane immediately views with suspicion. If the accident was in fact murder, the killer is one of Jane's fellow snow-bound guests. With clues scattered amidst cleverly-crafted charades, dark secrets coming to light during parlor games, and old friendships returning to haunt the Christmas parties, whom can Jane trust to help her discover the truth and stop the killer from striking again?

And in July 2015, Mr and Mrs Darcy return in Carrie A Bebris's seventh book in the series, The Suspicion at Sanditon (Or, the Disappearance of Lady Denham), no blurb available yet.

PD James follows on from Pride & Prejudice (with a murder)

I've written about Jane Austen related/inspired crime fiction before but this one comes as a surprise! A press release from Faber:

Faber is delighted to announce the publication of a new P. D. James novel. Death Comes to Pemberley masterfully recreates the world of Pride and Prejudice, and sets a murder at its heart. It will be published on 3 November.

The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the Pemberley nursery, Elizabeth’s beloved sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live within seventeen miles, the ordered and secure life of Pemberley seems unassailable, and Elizabeth’s happiness in her marriage is complete. But their peace is threatened and old sins and misunderstandings are rekindled on the eve of the annual autumn ball. The Darcys and their guests are preparing to retire for the night when a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley’s wild woodland, and as it pulls up, Lydia Wickham, an uninvited guest, tumbles out, screaming that her husband has been murdered.

In a pitch-perfect recreation of the world of Pride and Prejudice, P. D. James elegantly fuses her lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen with her talent for writing detective fiction. She weaves a compelling story, combining a sensitive insight into the happy but threatened marriage of the Darcys and the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly crafted detective story. Death Comes to Pemberley enshrines the qualities her readers have come to expect: psychological and emotional richness of characterisation, vivid evocation of place, and a credible and superbly structured plot, in a powerful and distinguished work of fiction.

Stephen Page, CEO and Publisher at Faber said:

‘It is always a moment of great excitement when P. D. James delivers a new novel but the brilliance of both the idea and the execution on this occasion is simply breathtaking. It’s such an elegant, intelligent and moving book that is certain to delight an enormous readership.’

P. D. James said:

‘It has been a joy to revisit Pride and Prejudice and to discover, as one always does, new delights and fresh insights. I have to apologise to Jane Austen for involving her beloved Elizabeth in a murder investigation but this fusion of my two enthusiasms – for the novels of Jane Austen and for writing detective stories – has given me great pleasure which I hope will be shared by my readers.’

Well! Will you be reading it because a) you like P D James, b) you like Jane Austen c) both or d) I won't be reading it at all?

Jane Austen Related Crime

Jane Austen's adventures as sleuth have been documented for a while by Stephanie Barron and recently Lynn Shepherd rewrote Mansfield Park as a crime story with Murder at Mansfield Park and next May, there's to be a crime novel investigating her death. From Jane Austen champion, Lindsay Ashford and published by Honno:

No one has ever been able to provide a satisfactory explanation for the tragically early death of Jane Austen. This intriguing novel delves into the private lives of the Austen family and comes up with a new and shocking possibility...

Miss Anne Sharp holds the position of governess at the Godmersham home of Edward Austen. She becomes friendly with his literary sister, Jane, when the latter arrives for an extended stay. Also a frequent visitor is a younger Austen brother, the maverick Henry. Anne becomes convinced that Henry is having an illicit affair with her employer’s wife and Jane too has her suspicions on this account.

When Jane Austen dies at the age of just 41, Anne is devastated. She begins to suspect that someone wanted her out of the way because she knew too much. Her fears are heightened by the death of yet another family member soon after.

The story opens with two letters establishing that Anne has sought to confirm her suspicions now that medical science has progressed sufficiently to assess the evidence presented by a tainted lock of Jane Austen’s hair. Natural causes or murder? Even after more than twenty years, Miss Sharp is determined to get to the bottom of the mysterious death of the acclaimed Miss Austen ...

A speculative exploration of the circumstances that might have precipitated the tragically early death of one of history’s greatest writers.

Details of Austen’s life and illness taken from her own and relatives’ correspondence.

Incidentally, earlier this year I read a teenage novel providing some insight into Jane's early years: I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend written by another crime writer, Cora Harrison.

OT: Jane Austen as vampire

I'm feeling a bit undead myself. I'm back home, shattered from cycling and a poor night's sleep on the ferry - I'm not a great sea traveller and the information at the port - "mer peu agité" - did not help!! I managed to pick up the cats by communicating mostly in sign language and was unable to express my full horror over the fact that they have no record of the cats' next stay in September and that they're now fully booked, so the hunt is on for another cattery for next time. The beautiful Foxy was the star and I could hear the carer telling him how much she'd miss him :-).

Anyway, working my way through a few emails, I saw reference to Jane Austen as a vampire. A bit of googling later, this from the author's mouth:

And finally, something I've been waiting for the past month to tell you. I had to wait until it was official, which it was on Tuesday, when Publishers Weekly's "Hot Deals" column broke the news. I've signed a 3-book deal with Random House's Ballantine imprint for a series of novels featuring Jane Austen as a vampire. I know, right? Big Fun. I'm so pleased about this. And already the books are getting attention. Yesterday they were written about in The New Yorker's "The Book Bench" column. Again, Big Fun. The first book is due out in late 2009, and you'll be hearing a lot more about it in the coming months.

And a bit more from Publisher's Weekly:

Liz Scheier at Ballantine won a four-way auction for Michael Thomas Ford's Jane Bites Back, taking world English rights to three books via Mitchell Waters at Curtis Brown. The novel presents an undead Jane Austen, frustrated by nearly 200 years of writer's block and 116 rejections of an unpublished novel she finished just before turning into a vampire; she's becoming increasingly irritated that the rest of the world seems to be getting rich and famous off of her works and her life. The two follow-up books will be derived from the first. Waters said Ford, the author of many books for young readers and adults, is likely to publish this under a pseudonym; pub date still undecided.

Famous People as Sleuths

One of our themes last year at Crime Reading Group was famous people as detectives and we did struggle for titles but I feel more confident that, should this topic re-emerge, I'll now be able to suggest a few more ideas. I've mentioned some before on this blog - last year Gyles Brandreth began his Oscar Wilde series and in March, Nicola Upson's first novel starring Josephine Tey is released as well as Justine Picardie's Daphne.

Of course, long before this, Jane Austen had been detecting away in the series by Stephanie Barron which now numbers nine and began with Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor.

She's now being joined in the mystery and adventure world by another classic female writer...Charlotte Bronte. It does look like this is planned as a one-off outing but The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte will be out in the US, also in March.

Written by Laura Joh Rowland, the blurb states:

THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË, by Laura Joh Rowland (author of the Sano Ichiro mystery series) is an epic, world-at-stake thriller starring the legendary 19th century author and her equally famous family. It’s a tour of Victorian England from gutter to palace, featuring a hero who combines Mr. Rochester with Agent 007 and a villain whose devious schemes threaten the very fabric of the British Empire. Charlotte Brontë is plunged headlong into the sort of thrilling adventures and passionate romance she never actually experienced, but secretly craved.

Read an except on the author's website.

I wonder which current celebrity/famous person will star in their own series as written by a future generation of crime writers and who is the most unlikely sleuth...George Bush, Tony Blair, Jade Goody?