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
