Review: Jane Austen homage: better than most
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2012
Here we have taken a character straight out of Emma, and plopped her into the edges of society. That is, until Jane Fairfax's adulterous, abrasive husband is murdered.While we don't "meet" the husband, we do get a hint as to his character, or lack thereof, as seen through Jane's memories and the Bow Street Runner's discoveries.The story flows nicely, without the pretentiousness of many of the Austen-influenced sequels, the language  and pace integrate the upper-class restraint while lightening the mood with interjections of the lower-class cant: a clever device that moves the story forward more quickly than holding to the faux genteel upper crust speech patterns and descriptions that so often mire the pace of Austen.As this book is part of the Bow Street Consultant series, I am hoping that this is the first and not the last using this set of characters.