Death of a Schoolgirl

June 18, 2012
Fans of historical cozies will best appreciate Slan’s first in a new series featuring Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Soon after the birth of Jane and Edward Rochester’s first son, Jane receives a troubling plea for help from her former pupil, Adèle Varens, now at London’s Alderton House School for Girls. Jane travels from Yorkshire to London, where she poses as a German teacher to gain entry to Alderton House, which she discovers is a hotbed of bullying, theft, laudanum drugging, and long-held grudges. The death of one of Adèle’s schoolmates and a possible connection to George IV add to the intrigue. Slan (Ready, Scrap, Shoot and four other Kiki Lowenstein mysteries) captures neither the voice of Jane Eyre nor the timeless appeal of its heroine, but she credibly recreates Regency London and the era of the Bow Street Runners. Agent: Paige Wheeler, Folio Literary Management.

August 1, 2012
A cry of distress from a schoolgirl takes Jane Eyre Rochester far from her sheltered life. Edward Rochester is still suffering health problems from the fire that destroyed Thornfield Hall. In the meantime, Edward and Jane have married, have recently had a son, and are living in the family hunting lodge until a new home can be built. When a letter arrives from Edward's ward, Adele Varens, covertly asking for help, Jane goes to London to see what is amiss at Alderton House, Adele's boarding school. During the trip, Jane is attacked and the Rochester diamonds stolen. Once in London, Jane stays with Lucy Brayton, a fashionable family friend who plans to improve Jane's timid image. Arriving at Adele's school, Jane finds that a girl has been murdered, and the hysterical Adele, who found the body, has been drugged. Mistaken for the new German teacher, Jane decides to stay when Nan Miller, an old friend who teaches at Alderton House and remembers Jane as an orphan waif, asks for her help. The young woman who was murdered was a beauty with a nasty disposition who was cordially disliked by all. In the course of a Bow Street Runner's investigation, Jane learns that there are connections to royalty that must be suppressed. Although Jane may seem meek, the formidable intelligence behind her demure exterior stands her in good stead as she attempts to uncover a murderer. In a radical departure from her scrapbooking series (Ready, Scrap, Shoot, 2012, etc.), Slan refashions a beloved heroine as a surprisingly canny detective. Her stylistic imitation of Charlotte Bronte is seasoned with a dash of social commentary and plenty of suspects to mull over.

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July 1, 2012

In 1820, Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre Rochester have settled into the Yorkshire countryside and welcomed a son. Their quiet retreat is shattered when Adele, Mr. Rochester's ward who is now enrolled in a London boarding school, sends a desperate plea for help. Arriving in the same mail delivery is a letter from a dear and trusted friend indicating she's been forbidden to visit the young girl. Jane sets out alone owing to Edward's fragile health and finds herself persuaded to masquerade as an unmarried teacher to search for clues from within. VERDICT It's difficult to know why the author of the "Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft" cozy series chose Jane Eyre as the basis for this amateur sleuth mystery. Using such well-known characters, with established behaviors and beliefs, makes it difficult for readers to accept the unfamiliar and unlikely situations they are forced to inhabit. Readers without strong feelings about Charlotte Bronte's classic may enjoy this spin-off but should be prepared for a slow-paced investigation and out-of-the-blue solution.--Stacey Hayman, Rocky River P.L., OH

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