Tirzah Price, Manslaughter Park (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #3), HarperCollins US, January 2025, 416 pp., RRP $24.99 (pb), ISBN 9780062889874
Didn’t I tell you that a well-timed swoon could get you out of all manner of things?
Let me preface my review with the confession that I have not read Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Does this matter? In my opinion, not a jot. In fact, I think it’s an advantage. I came to this book with absolutely no expectations. I took it at face value: a murder/mystery, with a Regency setting and a passing nod to Bridgeton.
Being the poor cousin is not an enviable position to find oneself. Being the poor cousin who is a ‘guest’ of her wealthy family (out of the goodness of their hearts!) is even worse. Fanny Price is treated with disdain and cruelty by her aunts and cousins. Her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram is the one family member who sees her and shows her kindness. When her beloved uncle dies in an unfortunate accident, Fanny is, at first, heartbroken. But the more she looks into the Bertram family business, the more she suspects that his death was not an accident; it was murder.
Such fun! This book is such fun! Fanny proves herself to have a lot more pluck than she thought possible, and is prepared to risk everything to uncover the truth, because, in her mind, it is the right thing to do. Fanny finds unexpected allies in her uncle’s solicitors, Lizzie Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and an even more unexpected swoon factor in the blue-eyed Mary Crawford.
The publisher promotes this as a ‘queer’ retelling of Mansfield Park, but I think that sells this book short. Yes, it has a number of queer elements, but they are just one aspect of a novel that not only explores the social divide created by money, or the lack thereof, but also the growth of Fanny’s character. She discovers that she has a voice, and is talented, and can make her way in the world, all without her family’s tainted money, and definitely without a man!
Such fun! And highly recommended.
Publisher’s recommended age: 14+
Reviewed by Gaby Meares
