The extraordinary fascination with all things Jane Austen continues unabated, writes book reviewer ANNA CREER. 

Jane Austen’s 250th birthday has resulted in a wave of new adaptations of her work. 

The Other Bennet Sister, telling the story of Mary Bennet after Pride and Prejudice, is currently showing on Netflix, while a new series of Pride and Prejudice itself, starring Emma Corrin and Jack Lowden, is in production, as is a new film of Sense and Sensibility with Daisy Edgar-Jones. 

Alicia Silverstone will also return this year as Cher in a new TV series sequel to Clueless. 

But Jane Austen and crime fiction – a paradox? But not for those who write fanfiction. Many authors have recreated either Jane Austen, or her characters, as detectives in historical mysteries set in the Regency era. The result is cosy crime that tries to emulate Austen’s wit and irony. 

Jessica Bull introduced Jane Austen the detective in Miss Austen Investigates (2024) and three more novellas have followed, including The Austen Christmas Murders (Michael Joseph) set in December 1798. 

Jane Austen is home alone in Steventon with only her parents. Her sister Cassandra is visiting their brother at Godmersham Park, her brothers Frank and Charles are at sea and Henry is living in London. To escape her mother’s decision to clean the rectory for Christmas, Jane visits her eldest brother James at nearby Deane Parsonage. But James has made a grim discovery of human bones in the cellar. 

The local magistrate declares there will be no inquest, as it’s apparent the bones must be the remains of a soldier returned from the American War who had crawled into the cellar and was frozen to death.

Jane, however, believes the bones are female, remembering the mysterious disappearance of Mary Ellen Portal on her wedding day many years earlier, and begins her own investigation. 

Who knows how Jane Austen would have investigated a murder but the details of a Regency Christmas make the suspension of disbelief worthwhile. 

AUSTRALIAN authors Kemmy Gardiner and Shamini Kumar create a more convincing portrait of one of Austen’s least loved characters in Miss Caroline Bingley Private Detective (HarperCollins).

Caroline Bingley had been Lizzie Bennet’s rival for Darcy’s affection in Pride and Prejudice. Two years later at the age of 28, she has reinvented herself as a woman of independent means. She owns her own townhouse in London, manages her own affairs, has her own staff and a carriage and driver.

In the depths of winter, while staying with her brother and his wife in the country, Caroline learns that Georgiana, Darcy’s sister, has run away to London from Pemberley. She follows immediately, to discover that Georgiana intends to search for her missing Indian maid, Jade.

All Georgiana knows is that Jade has come to London to find her brother. Caroline is convinced she can find them both using her methodical approach to all tasks. 

With the help of her trusted butler, Gordon, Caroline takes her carriage and her courage into the less salubrious parts of London where eventually they discover not only Jade but a brutal murder. 

This is an impressive debut by two Australian writers. Austen fans will hope it’s the first in a series. 

IN Six Weeks by the Sea (HarperCollins) eminent Austen scholar, Dr Paula Byrne joins the ranks of fanfiction authors.

In her afterword, she claims that the inspiration for the novel was one of the questions about Jane Austen that she’s frequently asked: “Did she ever fall in love?” 

Austen’s sister, Cassandra, in later life told her niece Caroline about Jane meeting a handsome young man when on holiday with her family in Sidmouth, in 1801.

Caroline remembered: “I never heard Aunt Cass speak of anyone else with such admiration – she had no doubt that a mutual attachment was in progress between him and her sister. They parted… and shortly afterwards he died”. 

Bryne imagines that this unknown gentleman might have been a real historical figure, Samuel Rose, a brilliant lawyer who loved literature. He was a friend of Wiiliam Cowper, Austen’s favourite poet and he famously defended the poet William Blake in his trial for treason.

Byrne has Jane meet Rose at the Assembly Rooms in Sidmouth where they dance. He’s “undoubtedly attractive – darkhaired… with the bluest of eyes”. But Jane is more interested in meeting her brother Frank’s naval friend Captain Parker.

Bryne establishes a classic love triangle, a familiar Austen motif, and crowds the novel with recognisable Austen characters. However, the plot is rather slight so the overall result is disappointing.