Murder at Mansfield Park A Novel [Paperback]

Nobody, I believe, has ever found it possible to like the heroine ofMansfield Park. --Lionel Trilling

In this ingenious new twist onMansfield Park, the famously meek Fanny Price--whom Jane Austen's own mother called insipid --has been utterly transformed; she is now a rich heiress who is spoiled, condescending, and generally hated throughout the county. Mary Crawford, on the other hand, is now as good as Fanny is bad, and suffers great indignities at the hands of her vindictive neighbor. It's only after Fanny is murdered on the grounds of Mansfield Park that Mary comes into her own, teaming-up with a thief-taker from London to solve the crime.

Featuring genuine Austen characters--the same characters, and the same episodes, but each with a new twist--MURDER AT MANSFIELD PARK is a brilliantly entertaining novel that offers Jane Austen fans an engaging new heroine and story to read again and again.

LYNN SHEPHERD, who received a doctorate in English literature from Oxford University, lives in London. She first had the idea of writing an authentic Austen murder nearly ten years ago.

Complete with romance, intrigue, and crimes of the heart, MURDER AT MANSFIELD PARK is an irreverent new twist on an old classic.

A Note from the Author

Murder at Mansfield Parkis one of those books where the title gives you a pretty good idea of what you're going to find inside! It's a murder mystery, which takes the characters and setting ofMansfield Parkas the springboard for a completely new story, written in Jane Austen's style.

I first readMansfieldParkfor my school leaving exams, and it's fascinated me ever since. It's so different from books likePride & PrejudiceorSense & Sensibility, and is usually way down at the bottom of most people's list of favourite Austen novels. It certainly is a much more serious book, and Jane Austen herself said it was not half solc