Though the father-daughter team of Peter and Georgia Marsh (Murder on the Old Road, 2011, etc.) specializes in cold cases, they don't expect one to go back as far as Jane Austen.
Georgia is stressed by the return of her mother Elena, who walked out on Peter after an accident left him in a wheelchair. The old friend with whom Elena's staying invites them all to a gala at Stourdens, a local manor that sports a Jane Austen collection and an old murder case. The mansion's owner, Laura Fettis—joined by her husband and daughter Jennifer, Jennifer’s fiancé and other hangers-on, including a filmmaker, an author, a caterer and Elena’s friends, who live in an old inn—all have plans to exploit the connection with Jane Austen, especially the rumor that Jane based her unfinished novel The Watsons on a real-life love affair associated with the inn. The announcement of their plans is jeopardized when Laura says that she's changed her mind and then killed for good along with Laura herself. Georgia and Peter, warned off by the police, find that their investigation into the safe old murder is tied into the more volatile present-day killing. There are so many people with motives that the duo would have their hands full even if they weren't busy checking out the Austen memorabilia that may be at the center of the mystery.
Though this installment drags a bit, Myers presents all the ingredients for an enjoyable read: historical interest, multiple suspects and a pair of likable sleuths.
