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    Murder at Mansfield Park: A Novel
    Murder at Mansfield Park: A Novel
    Murder at Mansfield Park: A Novel
    Ebook341 pages5 hours

    Murder at Mansfield Park: A Novel

    By Lynn Shepherd

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

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

    In this ingenious new twist on Mansfield 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJul 20, 2010
    ISBN9781429913218
    Murder at Mansfield Park: A Novel
    Author

    Lynn Shepherd

    Lynn Shepherd, who received a doctorate in English literature from Oxford University, lives in London. Murder at Mansfield Park was her first novel. She is also the author of The Solitary House, A Fatal Likeness, and The Pierced Heart.

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    Reviews for Murder at Mansfield Park

    3.5/5

    98 ratings21 reviews

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    • 3/5
      As I read Murder at Mansfield Park, I experienced the full range of emotional responses: I nearly flung the book across the room, I chuckled at Shepherd's mastery of Austen-like humor, I flipped back in frustration to the pages establishing the revamped relationships among characters. As I read, my star rating vacillated wildly. I have finally settled on three stars, which feels a bit like a copout. But this is really two separate projects shoehorned into one, and ultimately, I'm not convinced they coexist well.Those unfamiliar with Mansfield Park will miss a huge chunk of the fun here. In Austen's original, three sisters marry with varying degrees of success. Lady Bertram married well up and produced three children, Tom, Edmund, Maria, and Julia. Mrs. Norris did just fine, marrying the parson of the estate, and is now widowed with no children. The third sister married imprudently for love and produced a passel of children they can ill-afford, among them Fanny, the oldest girl, Susan, the next oldest, and William. Fanny is closest to Susan and William and misses them the most when she is sent to live with the Bertrams as a money-saving measure, where only Edmund treats her with kindness. Sister and brother Mary and Henry Crawford come to live in the parsonage. Henry begins a flirtation with all the girls, while Mary has her sights on Edmund. Shepherd interferes with the relationships and status of Austen's characters. Now Fanny is a spoiled orphan heiress who comes to live with her socially inferior cousins, the Bertrams, Edmund is Mrs. Norris's son, Henry Crawford has a profession, and Mary Crawford is a virtuous girl. This is the first reimagining of the novel. The second turns Mansfield Park into a Regency crime novel when Fanny turns up dead and Mr. Maddox is summoned to get to the bottom of the matter. This second approach has a number of effects: the servants figure more prominently, since they are a great source of information to Mr. Maddox, Mr. Maddox himself adds a wrinkle into the class portrayals, and much of the social commentary is redirected into the murder investigation. I found a great deal of enjoyment in this novel, but I felt it was overly ambitious. Either of the two premises would have been sufficient, but both crammed together seemed excessive. Either shed light on class divisions by turning the relationships on their head or reimagine the novel as a murder mystery, but both is too much departure from the original material. Austen's own words are incorporated extensively, but Shepherd's prose blends almost seamlessly. She has an impressive command of Regency language and of Austen's brand of humor. Ultimately, there is simply too much going on here to really shed light on Austen's original, and the reader has far too many departures of which to keep track. I kept forgetting that WIlliam wasn't Fanny's brother in this interpretation, the class change for Henry was a sticking point, Edmund as Mrs. Norris's son...all this and more AND with a murder mystery thrown in. While there were fun, insightful parts, the rest was chaos.An overly ambitious reimagining of Austen, but one with plenty of enjoyable moments.Source disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.
    • 5/5
      This is the second literary spin-off I have read by this author, following her re-imagining of Dickens's Bleak House, Tom-All-Alone's. The early part follows the narrative of Jane Austen's novel very closely, but with some subtle differences in who is related to whom, and many of the characters have differing traits and driving forces, especially Fanny. The novel becomes a Georgian whodunnit when a body is found in the grounds of the Park and a thief-taker from London, Charles Maddox, who also appears in Tom-All-Alone's, is called to the scene. I won't give away any spoilers, but this is very well written, with a style similar to Austen's, which at times felt almost disconcerting to me, having read Austen's novel only two weeks earlier. The later scenes where Maddox investigates combine this Austen style with dramatic confrontations and quite shocking events in a very successful way. When I reviewed the earlier book, I said I thought that it had slightly besmirched my view of Bleak House, but I don't feel the same way about this one - the re-imagining is done in a different way that doesn't spring so directly from the themes of the original (though if I were to re-read Austen's novel now, I would surely have some new images in my mind).
    • 3/5
      Lynn Shepherd does a nice job of turning Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park into a light mystery.

      I honestly did not think Shepherd needed to make Fanny Price into an arrogant bitch to justify her murder, and think that the original Fanny Price whom Austen wrote was such an insipid character I wanted to murder her myself.

      Shepherd stays true to the Austen style of writing and the overall Regency feel. And of course the main character, Mary Crawford (in this case) winds up living happily ever after as do all of Austen’s heroines.

      Considering Mansfield Park was one of my least favorite Austen books, I think Shepherd does a commendable job in the retelling of it and makes it a little more fun having Fanny finally get her comeuppance.
    • 1/5
      A weird idea: take an established location, a well defined set of characters and then change everything. Eg Fanny Price has become an heiress and a thoroughly nasty piece of work. The story might have wirked in a different setting but this mauling of well known and loved characters did not work.
    • 4/5
      First let me say that I did not read Mansfield Park so I did not go in to this book with any preconceived notions of who the characters are or should be.Many reviewers have said that the book is, and for that matter, the characters are not true to the original. This should come as no surprise as the book is called Murder at Mansfield Park and the description of the plot plainly states that it is a different take on the story.I liked this novel very much and not just for its plot line of murder with romance but for the fact that I felt Ms. Shepherd did an excellent job at adapting Jane Austen's style of writing and language to her book. This simili aids the reader by keeping them immersed in the world of Jane Austen.This novel is a stand alone , its not a continuation. As such Ms. Shepherd was on task in her effort to recreate an Austen environment with a plausible plot and deep characterizations.
    • 4/5
      It took me a while to get into this Austen-inspired murder mystery, however, after a slow start, in became an entertaining page-turner. My initial coolness may have been a result of the strangely unsettling effect of seeing familiar characters and relationships from Mansfield Park being re-arranged, both in order to assist the plot and to have a bit of fun with the originals. Those who find the original Fanny Price to be an insufferable prig (I don't, but I know many do) will probably quite enjoy what Shepherd makes of her. Similarly, readers who believe that Mary Crawford is, despite her faults, the real heroine of Mansfield Park, will be pleased that in this re-working there is no doubt of her status as the character whom the reader is most encouraged to like and root for. Her brother, for all his charms, is just as flawed as in the original, though I suspect this will not diminish his loveable rogue status in the eyes of many female readers.There isn't as much humour in this book as in many of Austen's novels, perhaps as a consequence of Mansfield Park being one of her least comic works. I did, however, smile at the reference to a small place near London, considered unlikely to ever be of much use: a place by the name of Heath Row!Like the original, Murder at Mansfield Park is set in the late eighteenth century, when there was little by way of an organised police force and the role of the police detective has yet to emerge. Maddox, a completely new character who does not feature in the original book, is brought in to investigate the murder. Once he arrives on the scene and commandeers Sir Thomas Bertram's study (mirroring the theatrical uses of the baronet's private space in the original) the book did begin to remind me of Wilkie Collins's early detective novel, The Moonstone. Personally, though many will consider my opinion sacrilegious, I enjoyed Murder at Mansfield a lot more than the Collins classic, perhaps because it is able to draw on over a century of mystery writing tradition, employing tried and tested plotting techniques, that help ensure what for many will come as an unexpected outcome. Without giving too much away, there was something about the ending that also reminded me somewhat of Jane Eyre. If this and the Collins allusions were intentional, I begin to wonder how many other passing references to works by Austen's nineteenth century literary successors may have escaped my attention?
    • 3/5
      It's not a sequel but a re-writing of Mansfield Park. My first thought was that the author had randomly shuffled the names, relationships and characters of Jane Austen's originals so that, for instance, Edmund is Mrs. Norris's stepson, William is Sir Thomas's youngest son and Julia's favourite brother and Fanny is Lady Bertram's and Mrs. Norris's orphaned, wealthy niece and only pretending to be meek, just to see what direction a story would then take. As you might guess from the title it is a murder mystery and, from that point of view, a good read, however I found it took time to get into the story and start to be able to ponder whodunnit because all the characters seemed to be behaving out of character. While I could just about manage to see that the Fanny I knew might snap and fight back against her downtrodden position, I could not cope with having Mary Crawford as the noble heroine.
    • 4/5
      Attention, P.D. James: this is how to turn Austen into Agatha Christie.After being disappointed by Death Comes To Pemberley, I was slightly wary of Lynn Shepherd's similar twist on Mansfield Park, but my doubts were quickly and pleasantly assuaged. Instead of clumsily trying to insert a murder mystery into an Austen novel, Shepherd cleverly manipulates the original characters to supply motive, means - and a victim - for a strangely appropriate violent crime. Fanny Price is no longer the priggish bore, modest and unassuming, of old - sorry, not my favourite heroine - but an orphan and an heiress, 'vain, insincere, and possessed of a quite excessive degree of self-consequence'! Boring Edmund is now Mrs Norris' step-son, Julia Bertram is more like Fanny, Henry Crawford is a landscape architect, and Mary Crawford is the heroine of the piece (although not half as much fun). Once the shifting personalities and relationships are established, then comes the murder at Mansfield Park.'We were all perfectly happy before you came - I wish I had never seen you - I wish - I wish you were dead!'I must confess to putting my money on the right horse, but only because the murderer seems to be the most likely candidate for an act of self-serving homicidal violence, in both Shepherd's universe and Austen's novel! However, Lynn Shepherd does throw in a couple of distracting red herrings, which made me think twice. And Charles Maddox, the 'thief taker' from London called in to investigate - no premature mention of 'the police' here - is a vivid addition to the cast, armed with determination and dubious morals!Murder at Mansfield Park is a well-paced, intelligently constructed murder mystery, but also a playful take on Austen's work. Lynn Shepherd is at ease writing in the formal style of the original text, while making sly references to Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, criminal procedure, and Heathrow ('it was unlikely much would ever be made of it'), among other topics! The author doesn't flaunt her knowledge, but the nods and winks are there for fellow Austen fans.Thank you, Lynn Shepherd, for livening up Mansfield Park with a death or two!
    • 3/5
      ** spoiler alert ** I generally liked this book, but overall was semi-disappointed with the ending. The mystery was well-crafted and really did require some guesswork, as Ms. Shepherd managed to throw me off the true killer's trail several times. But I was happy to see her work in a mention of Mr. Bingley and Robert Ferrars, it amused me highly. Overall an enjoyable variation on the original work by Austen, but I was fairly angry that she killed off Julia. That was the worst part in my opinion, since I liked her better than in the original novel. She reminded me a great deal of Marianne Dashwood and it improved her much to me.
    • 4/5
      In Murder at Mansfield Park, Lynn Shepherd has taken Austen's notoriously least popular work and turned it on its head. Rather than take the typical approach and write a spin-off, where the story continues on or follows a minor character, Shepherd presents an alternate telling of the story, one in which downtrodden wet blanket Fanny is a pampered and officious heiress, and Julia Bertram seems to have more in common with the Fanny we know. Mary Crawford (one of my favorite characters in Austen, honestly) seems to share a backbone with Lizzie Bennet; she is a thinking woman, very aware of the follies and inconsistencies of the people around her. She is perhaps a bit more gentle than Lizzie, but she has something of the same spirit, and I think Shepherd succeeds in her goal of convincing the reader to just go with liking Mary and hating Fanny, which is something that creeps up on you when reading Mansfield Park.But Murder at Mansfield Park isn't just a straight-forward alternate reality retelling of Austen's classic; it's also a full-blown whodunit murder mystery, with the country atmosphere and the self-absorbed people creating a sort of "Clue" atmosphere. I'm not sure that this book will be to the tastes of Jane purists (who would possibly gasp themselves into a swoon at some of the goings-on), but truly, the attention to detail in the language, and the character and world building are quite impressive. When I first sat down to review this, I started to say that this could have been it's own story independent of Jane, because so much is changed and wholly different than Jane's work. But I realized I didn't want to say that; it's not quite what I mean: the story does stand on its own, independent of Jane, however, I feel like having the known-Jane characters adds this fantastic layer that wouldn't be there otherwise. It's very clever and interesting, a neat little blending of Regency romance and murder most foul: as if Jane Austen and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had a warped little lovechild. And if that doesn't have you intrigued, I have not done my job...
    • 4/5
      I got this through Early Reviewers, and I am horribly late in actually writing my review.I was a little leery of reading this, as Mansfield Park is not one of my favorite Austen stories, and there are so many offshoots and continuations out there that are not good. I am so glad I got over it and read this! It really is a great book on its own, and while having read Mansfield Park itself is helpful I think it could just as easily be enjoyed by someone unfamiliar with Austen's original work. I would put this at the top of my list of recommendations.
    • 4/5
      A surprisingly delightful book! An Austen pastiche that can stand on it's own - and frankly, quite possibly should. Despite the odd premise, the novel really delivers. I admit, I remember very little from when, ages back, I actually read Austen's Mansfield Park. Not one of my favorites, certainly. But that was no impediment to getting through and enjoying this adaptation. The author does a wonderful job of molding interesting characters - how true they are to the original, I cannot say - who move believably through their world. There's a quiet subtlety and plot points are not hamfistedly introduced, a common problem with Austen adaptations. Perhaps my only fault is that she ought to start out presenting, clearly, Mary Crawford as the central character. There's a bit of loosey-goosey language at the beginning that must be sorted through, and may turn readers away. The murder itself is cleverly done, though the reader has likely figured out the true killer a bit before the characters. The romance is very in line with Pride and Prejudice, but not so much that there isn't a bit of angst to be had at the end. Nicely done.I have and will recommend this book to others who enjoy Regency-era romance, and don't mind a good murder mystery, either!
    • 4/5
      The author has done a really brilliant job of creating an alternate reality for Mary Crawford and Fanny Price. The action of the novel mirrors Austen's work, but with some wickedly clever twists. (Of course, Mrs. Norris remains Mrs. Norris, no matter what alternate universe you're residing in...) Shepherd is having some fun with her debut novel.Very nicely done albeit with a slightly convenient resolution, but far better than most Austen offshoots.
    • 4/5
      Take classic characters, settings and events, change them around and add a hideous murder (or two). Oh, and did I mention these were Jane Austen characters, settings and events. This could be a recipe for disaster. I admit that it took me a few sessions to get into this book, but it turned out to be a very enjoyable story with a very good mystery. I was guessing until the last minute.
    • 4/5
      The names of the characters and places may be the same, and some of the incidents similiar, but otherwise this story has little to do with Austen's original novel. Those who have read Mansfield Park will enjoy seeing things from a skewed angle, while those who have nver read it will not lose much in their enjoyment of the story. The writing style is quite like Austen's, but with a modern sensibility used to the conventions of murder mysteries. While this is a serious story about a murder, it also slyly pokes fun at Austen and the traditional English country house mystery, which lightens up the atmosphere somewhat. The identity of the murderer is hidden quite well until the end of the book, and enough red herrings are planted to keep the reader guessing.
    • 3/5
      I started this book forgetting that the characters were switched from Jane Austen's original, with Fanny Price being "bad" and Mary Crawford being "good". It threw me for a loop, and I had to stop and re-read the back cover and the first couple of pages again. I kept having to remind myself that Edmund was Mrs. Norris' son, and a multitude of other tiny, and not-so-tiny changes from the original. Honestly, this discomfort did not really leave me until the murder promised in the title happened. Then, I could almost entirely ignore that every relationship between the characters was changed, and just enjoy a fun period murder mystery, partially because of the addition of thief-taker Charles Maddox. I love, love, love Charles Maddox. He is a detective who is not just good at his job, but brilliant at it. He gathers information by any means necessary, much to Miss Crawford's discomfort at times. He is (at least) one step ahead of the thought processes of the other characters, which is delightful. And the best part is that he brings out Mary Crawford's budding investiagative skills. SPOILERS START HERE. I really wanted Mary to end up with Maddox. I think part of the reason that people dislike Fanny and root for Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park is because Edmund is a bit of a wet blanket, and we want him to end up with someone a little bit naughty to break up all that goodness, and the same goes for Fanny and Henry Crawford. By ending Murder at Mansfield Park with Edmund with "good" Mary, it's the same problem all over again. She would have grown and become a true hybrid of her original and new character selves if she would have gone off to see the world with Mr. Maddox. So, Ms. Shepherd, I do admire what you were trying to do with this book. You really understand the tone of Austen, and really capture the spirit of her writing. Taking the arguably least popular Austen book and mixing up the characters in new ways is an interesting experiment. Mixing that same book with a murder mystery is fun too. Doing both of these at the same time was a little too overwhelming. However, if you decide to write a book just on Charles Maddox, I will be first in line to read it.
    • 5/5
      A while back I had requested this book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers, and thankfully, I received a copy. Shepherd had received her doctorate from Oxford University in English Literature, and the reader can definitely tell that she really comprehends the Austen style—the period spellings, the turns-of-phrase, the manners, customs, etc.—to which she wrote her debut book. But thankfully it was set with a modern tone, which made the novel easier to read and digest. From cover to cover, Shepherd weaves a tale that is so fantastic that if Austen, herself, had tried her hand at writing murder mysteries, “Murder at Mansfield Park” would have been the result. Fans of both Austen and of the original “Mansfield Park” will be excited to read this new twist on the tale—full of friendship, love, admiration, jealousy, mystery, and one person’s obsession to getting everything s/he wants. Without revealing too much, I will say that “Murder at Mansfield Park” is a definite recommendation for anyone seeking an eventful Austen-esque murder mystery that is surely to keep “you” guessing like the modern television CSI and other crime dramas.
    • 4/5
      For those who suffered through Jane Austen, take heart, while loosely written in the Austen style, this is much easier to read. The characters are well drawn, settings are elaborately drawn. Plot is well crafted: typical machinations about whose yearly stipends would be sufficient and woe betide the 'lower class' who dares to think above their station. As in most mysteries -- money is the driver or more exactly the lack there of. Most will enjoy this novel.
    • 3/5
      What if the characters in Jane Austen's characters were given a 'facelift' and because of it death comes to Manfield Park?A rich Fanny Price, orphaned and raised by the Betrams, is arranged to marry her cousin Edmund 'Norris'. But new opportunities presents themselves with arrival of the landscaper Henry Crawford, his sister Mary, and later by the rich Mr. Rushworth. When things don't go according to plan someone has got to pay...Overall an interesting murder mystery set during the Regency period, however as Mansfield Park is one of my favorite JA novels I had a hard to with the use of the same names but completely opposite personalities. The intrigue kept me turning the pages wondering who-done-it? but think the book would stand on its own without the Jane Austen plug.
    • 4/5
      Themes: love and marriage, social class, crime, gender roles, honesty, hypocrisySetting: Mansfield Park, England, 19th centuryFor all you Jane Austen fans - what would have happened if little Fanny Price, instead of being the poor relation, had been instead a wealthy heiress and orphan, raised at Mansfield Park? And instead of being ignored, had been flattered and condescended to? What if Edmund had been the son of Aunt Norris, William had been young Julia Bertram's favorite brother, and Mary Crawford had been the heroine of the story?Don't even think about reading this if you haven't read Mansfield Park already. You could, I guess, but it would make a lot less sense and it wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun. I am a fan of Mansfield Park, and I actually like Fanny Price. I think she's a great character and I was completely rooting for her through the whole book. But many Austen fans can't stand her. Too insipid, too self-righteous, and so on. So to see her reimagined in a completely different mold was a lot of fun.Then Fanny is murdered. That's not a spoiler; it says so on the back cover. And Mary Crawford is the one who is entangled and called on to figure out the whole mess, with the help of a professional thief taker from London. Which of the familiar characters is the murderer? Which will also be dead by the end of the book? And who will survive to live happily ever after?I highly recommend this fun book. It came yesterday and I couldn't resist staying up to read it last night. I don't know that I will keep it and reread it, but it was just what I needed - a fresh, involving read with enough twists to keep my interest and give me a good time. 4 stars.
    • 2/5
      Things are much changed at Mansfield. Though the names are the same the characters are not and none are more changed than Fanny, for she is no longer the romantic heroine she once was, demure, innocent and poor. Fanny is now a young woman of wealth, or else she is about to be.Mary Crawford too is altered as she now steps into the role of heroine at Mansfield, no longer the selfish, social climber after a rich husband, but instead the intelligent and kind hearted girl who has unfortunately fallen for a man who may or may not feel the same about her. Will love be found at Mansfield Park, or will murder separate a pair of lovers forever?Murder at Mansfield Park is a tampering of Austen's classic with a new perspective given through the watchful eyes of Mary Crawford. Fans of Austin will recognise a familiar style, however the plot has moved from romance to murder and no one is above suspicion. Its Sherlock Holmes meets Jane Austen in this Regency period who-dun-it.Jane Austen's Mansfield Park has been twisted into a story that is a bit of a let down when compared to the original. It may be unfair to make such a comparison, but when you tamper with a classic you have to expect to be compared with the original, and unfortunately in this case it doesn't quite stand up.

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    Murder at Mansfield Park - Lynn Shepherd

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