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Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House Audiobook
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(3.02) - 958 listener ratings
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In her sixth engrossing outing, Jane Austen employs her delicious wit and family ties to the Royal Navy in a case of murder on the high seas. Somewhere in the picturesque British port of Southampton, among a crew of colorful, eccentric, and fiercely individual souls, a killer has come ashore. And only Jane can fathom the depths of his ruthless mind.... Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House “I will assert that sailors are endowed with greater worth than any set of men in England.” So muses Jane Austen as she stands in the buffeting wind of Southampton’s quay beside her brother Frank on a raw February morning. Frank, a post captain in the Royal Navy, is without a ship to command, and his best prospect is the Stella Maris, a fast frigate captained by his old friend Tom Seagrave. “Lucky” Tom — so dubbed for his habit of besting enemy ships — is presently in disgrace, charged with violating the Articles of War. Tom’s first lieutenant, Eustace Chessyre, has accused Seagrave of murder in the death of a French captain after the surrender of his ship. Though Lucky Tom denies the charge, his dagger was found in the dead man’s chest. Now Seagrave faces court-martial and execution for a crime he swears he did not commit. Frank, deeply grieved, is certain his friend will hang. But Jane reasons that either Seagrave or Chessyre is lying — and that she and Frank have a duty to discover the truth. The search for the captain’s honor carries them into the troubled heart of Seagrave’s family, through some of the seaport’s worst sinkholes, and at long last to Wool House, the barred brick structure that serves as gaol for French prisoners of war. Risking contagion or worse, Jane agrees to nurse the murdered French captain’s imprisoned crew — and elicits a debonair surgeon’s account of the Stella Maris’s battle that appears to clear Tom Seagrave of all guilt. When Eustace Chessyre is found murdered, the entire affair takes on the appearance of an insidious plot against Seagrave, who is charged with the crime. Could any of his naval colleagues wish him dead? In an era of turbulent intrigue and contested amour, could it be a case of cherchez la femme ... or a veiled political foe at work? And what of the sealed orders under which Seagrave embarked that fateful night in the Stella Maris? Death knocks again at Jane’s own door before the final knots in the killer’s net are completely untangled. Always surprising, Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House is an intelligent and intriguing mystery that introduces Jane and her readers to “the naval set” — and charts a true course through the amateur sleuth’s most troubled waters yet.
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"Okay, got sucked into this on the Jane Austen line and ended up enjoying it. The language was very true to Jane Austen and the story was interesting. It was a mystery of Jane Austen's brother's friend accusted of murder. Had characters of Austen's real-life and characters displaying traits of her novels. Got a kick out of it. A few twists of the plot were plausible and the ending a surprise but not far-fetched."
— Jodi (4 out of 5 stars)
Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House Listener Reviews
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David Newell, 5/5/2017
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" Very good. I think Barron's Jane has really grown over the books and taken on a life of her own. This particular mystery involves naval matters and is full of lots and lots of period tidbits to please those fans of ships and battles. "
— Marie, 2/16/2014 -
" Fun read. Not the best one of the series and Etienne LaForge is not too bad of a substitute for Lord Harold. "
— Heather, 2/6/2014 -
" Aside from scuba reading, I finished Jane & The Prisoner of Wool House in the last couple of days. It inspired me to pick up an actual 19th-century novel. It's a little denser than the mysteries, so we'll see how far I get in the next couple of weeks. "
— Heather, 1/31/2014 -
" It's always a pleasure spending time with Miss Jane Austen, but I have to say that the ending was wildly improbable. Nevertheless, a pleasant read. "
— Kim, 1/29/2014 -
" I really have grown to like this series. I feel like I have a better understanding of the real Jane Austen's books, since Barron does such a good job explaining the setting. "
— Jen, 1/28/2014 -
" My favorite so far of these mysteries by Stephanie Barron. "
— Jeanne, 1/23/2014 -
" An interesting mystery with Jane Austen as sleuth, written in the style Jane and everyone else in 1807 would likely speak. The author was very good at keeping the real perp in the shadows until the very end. "
— Beverly, 1/19/2014 -
" not the best of the series, but still good. Nice to see Jane with her brothers. "
— Kailey, 1/15/2014 -
" Another great read. I read these one after another and loved each one.I thought this one at the sea may be a little boring, but I loved it... "
— Pamela, 1/3/2014 -
" Barron has the Austen era language down pretty well. Seemed to be historicall accurate, though I'm not a student of history and may not know better. It was fun to imagine Jane Austen engaging in everyday occurances and out of the ordinary events. "
— Kate, 12/25/2013
About Stephanie Barron
Stephanie Barron is a graduate of Princeton and Stanford, where she studied history. A former intelligence analyst for the CIA, Stephanie—who also writes under the name Francine Mathews—drew on her experience in the field of espionage for such novels as The Alibi Club, which Publishers Weekly named as one of the fifteen best novels of 2006, and for her critically acclaimed Jane Austen Mystery series, in which the intrepid and witty author of Pride and Prejudice details her secret detective career in Regency England. Barron lives and works in Denver.
About Kate Reading
Kate Reading, named an AudioFile Golden Voice, has recorded hundreds of audiobooks across many genres, over a thirty–year plus career and won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. Among other awards, she has been recognized as an AudioFile Magazine Voice of the Century, Narrator of the Year, Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and winner of an Publisher’s Weekly’s Listen-Up Award. She records at her home studio, Madison Productions, Inc., in Maryland.