Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

When Charlotte Kinder treats herself to a two-week vacation at Austenland, she happily leaves behind her ex-husband and his delightful new wife, her ever-grateful children, and all the rest of her real life in America. She dons a bonnet and stays at a country manor house that provides an immersive Austen experience, complete with gentleman actors who cater to the guests' Austen fantasies.

Everyone at Pembrook Park is playing a role, but increasingly, Charlotte isn't sure where roles end and reality begins. And as the parlor games turn a little bit menacing, she finds she needs more than a good corset to keep herself safe. Is the brooding Mr. Mallery as sinister as he seems? What is Miss Gardenside's mysterious ailment? Was that an actual dead body in the secret attic room? And-perhaps of the most lasting importance-could the stirrings in Charlotte's heart be a sign of real-life love?

The follow-up to reader favorite Austenland provides the same perfectly plotted pleasures, with a feisty new heroine, plenty of fresh and frightening twists, and the possibility of a romance that might just go beyond the proper bounds of Austen's world. How could it not turn out right in the end? ( synopsis from B&N.com)

Bloomsbury, Hardcover, 272 pages

Charlotte Kinder’s marriage has gone kaput and she starts reading Jane Austen as a diversion. Her two children are spending their vacation with their father and his new wife so Charlotte decides to go on her own vacation. She ends up going to England and being part of a reenactment type of trip located at Pembrook Park, a stately home.  Reborn as Charlotte Cordial, a widow, she embarks on her adventure. She is one of six guests and is matched with Mr. Mallery, a  moody but hunky gentleman.

As part of the entertainment, the three couples are part of a mystery involving a long ago event at a local abbey, and parts of the story are doled out over several nights. Unfortunately for Charlotte, it suddenly becomes all too real for her and she is left wondering what is really happening at Pembrook Park.  Who can she rely on for help?

I always have wanted to go on one of these Austen trips so the whole premise of this book intrigued me. Charlotte is an interesting character, not the typical dumpee. She has a successful business and seems to be a pretty intelligent woman who ignored the signs that her marriage was imploding. On her vacation she has the typical reactions one would being in a strange country, acting out another period of time, and finding oneself in the middle of something very unsettling. The mystery factor is ramped up in this book and the romance takes a back seat but still has a satisfying conclusion. Ms. Hale solves an obvious problem with a simple but effective plot twist so all can end well.  I enjoyed the first book in the series and this one was just as good.

Compulsively Mr. Darcy by Nina Benneton

For anyone obsessed with Pride & Prejudice, it's Darcy and Elizabeth like you've never see them before!

This modern take introduces us to the wealthy philanthropist Fitzwilliam Darcy, a handsome and brooding bachelor who yearns for love but doubts any woman could handle his obsessive tendencies. Meanwhile, Dr. Elizabeth Bennet has her own intimacy issues that ensure her terrible luck with men.

When the two meet up in the emergency room after Darcy's best friend, Charles Bingley, gets into an accident, Elizabeth thinks the two men are a couple. As Darcy and Elizabeth unravel their misconceptions about each other, they have to decide just how far they're willing to go to accept each other's quirky ways... (synopsis from B&N.com)

Sourcebooks, Trade Paperback, 352 pages

When I read the summary for this book, I was a little leery of reading it.  I was worried the Darcy character would be ruled by his OCD and be less romantic.  Boy was I wrong! In this wonderful adaptation by Nina Benneton, Darcy’s OCD is sensitively handled; Darcy is a man with OCD but he is not defined by it.

Darcy and Bingley have come to Vietnam to help his sister and brother in law, the Hurst’s, finalize an adoption at an orphanage managed by Jane Bennett.  Bingley injures his leg horsing around and ends up at the hospital. Darcy goes with him but doesn’t go inside (one of his quirks) until it seems to him that too much time has gone by and he goes in to give someone what-for.  He ends up blundering into a surgery setup, gets into a tussle with the surgeon, sees Bingley’s bloody leg and takes a facer onto the floor.  Guess who the surgeon is?

After this inauspicious beginning, Darcy and Elizabeth develop a friendship that quickly goes deeper. Misunderstandings abound, nasty relatives and enemies do their best to break up the couple, and things go very badly. Just as in the book from which this novel is adapted, people make assumptions about other people and misread situations which lead to the relationship troubles.

I loved that way Ms. Benneton worked in the characters from the original book and from other Jane Austen books as well.  Some of the characters follow a similar path as the original version, but others go a different direction and it all works. Elizabeth and Darcy have a strong relationship that overcomes their own mistrust and outside influences. The bad people get punished and when you read the last page you think to yourself…. That was really an enjoyable read!  I hope that we will see more from Ms. Benneton

Murder at Longborn by Tracy Kiely

Planning New Year’s resolutions to rid her life of all things unhealthy, Elizabeth Parker has dumped fatty foods, processed sugar, and her two-timing boyfriend. Indeed, the invitation to join her Aunt Winnie for a How to Host a Murder Party on New Year’s Eve at Winnie’s new Cape Cod B and B comes just in time. But when the local wealthy miser ends up the unscripted victim, Elizabeth must unearth old secrets and new motives in order to clear her beloved aunt of suspicion. The suspects include the town gossip, a haughty rich woman, and an antiques business owner much enamored of his benefactress, a Mrs. Kristell Dubois. If that isn’t bad enough, Elizabeth must also contend with her childhood nemesis, Peter McGowan---a man she suspects has only matured in chronological years---and her suspicions about his family’s interest in Winnie’s inn.

Yesterday, her only worry was of ever finding her Mr. Darcy. Now she has a murder to solve. Is it any wonder her resolution to achieve inner poise is in tatters? (synopsis from macmillan.com)

As a die hard Jane Austen fan, I will read anything that relates to her books.  Being a mystery fan as well, this book was made for me!  Loosely following Pride and Prejudice, this mystery is set in Cape Cod with Elizabeth Parker having the Elizabeth Bennet part.  Elizabeth's aunt Winnie is a feisty senior who owns a B&B in an old house coveted by a local man hated by almost everyone who knows him. One of Winnie's guests is an antique dealer who keeps going on and on about his oh so tasteful patron, Mrs. Dubois. Shades of Mr. Collins! There is also a  rich and abrasive widow with the obligatory mousy companion(who is an impoverished friend). We meet the young wife of the hateful man and his downtrodden daughter who are somehow involved with a  dashing Brit. Finally, we have our Mr. Darcy in the form of Peter, the childhood tormenter of the young Elizabeth. He is now the hunky heir to a successful hotel business and a friend of Winnie's.

Although the characters sound formulaic, the story is very cleverly done. The murder takes place during a murder mystery performance and the evidence mounts up against Winnie. There are subplots involving the murdered man's previous but now dead wife. Red herrings abound but it all works. The story moves along nicely and there is only a hint of romance.

This is the first book in a  series by Ms. Kiely. The second book is called Murder on the Bride's Side,and follows Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

Library note: RPL has Murder at Longborn ( 2009) in the Adult Large Print section. Murder on the Bride's Side  (2010) is available in Adult Mysteries.  The third book in the series  will come out in August of 2011.