REVIEW #2 – Jane and the Man of the Cloth
Stephanie Barron says this book, rather than Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor should start with this series. I have to disagree with Ms. Barron. I think reading the first in the series gave me information that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. As I mentioned in my review of Scargrave Manor, I thought it was a wonderful way to introduce Jane in a different way. But while her sleuthing skills are formidable in Scargrave, but it is in Jane and the Man of the Cloth that our heroine really begins to shine as a detective.
I really enjoyed Man of the Cloth. I love the play on words in the title and the whole Reverend mystery, too. The beginning is a wonderful nod to gothic novels, with the crash of the carriage, Cassandra being injured and the mysterious Geoffrey Sidmouth coming to the reluctant assistance of the Austen family. Because Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen novels, I also enjoyed the Lyme Regis setting.
But while I liked the interweaving of Jane’s actual activities with the mystery of who the Reverend is, who killed the men and Jane’s growing attraction to Geoffrey Sidmouth, I didn’t find Geoffrey Sidmouth to be a sympathetic character. I didn’t think that he was someone who Jane would be drawn to. She is a clergyman’s daughter, bound by the conventions and mores of the era. And while I can see her interacting with gentlemen at Assemblies, but I just don’t see her running out to see the man hanged at the end of the breakwater, visiting a man in jail, running around Lyme in the rain and fire. And please, make that girl put on a cloak!
On top of the mysterious Geoffrey Sidmouth and the incongruities of Jane’s attraction to him and his attraction to her, is the deus ex machina arrival of Lord Harold. Granted, it’s Jane who bonks the Reverend on the head, but it’s with Lord Harold’s gun. Lord Harold feels like a last minute addition to the story, what with Jane suddenly being followed and all that.
But it is lovely and romantic for her to ride off with him on horse. And because I’m a Lord Harold fan I’m glad to see that Jane’s last words promise another meeting.
I liked this story, with its fast-paced action, intriguing mysteries and, of course, Jane in all her Jane-ness.
spanish springs library mystery book club 
Mar 19, 2011 @ 17:03:18