Austenenian Mystery? Cozy Regency?
13 Dec 2012 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimoreneMy mind was wandering as I watched the musical introduction to an old episode of Morse early this week, and I suddenly realized that the number one gap in my television and reading diet is Austenesque murder mysteries - or, to put it another way, pre-Victorian cozy mysteries a la Miss Marple. I suppose Victorian could work - you can get a glimpse of the appropriate settings in the stories where Sherlock Holmes travels to the countryside (and the corresponding episodes of Granada); but only a short one, because the structure and mood of a cozy mystery is so different from a Sherlockian one.
Christie, Sayers, and Georgette Heyer all set their mysteries in the between wars period, which is also a lot of fun of course, and is my other favorite historical period. That's probably why my thoughts tend to jump back to the Regency from there.
Of course, we all (or most) know about Patricia C. Wrede* and Caroline Stevermer's Sorcery and Cecilia, which might be the book that initially planted the idea in my mind. That book and its sequels aren't quite my idea though:
The premise I thought of was collapsing the genres together based on the similarity between (a) the Austen-typical setting of small-town British life in the Regency period and (b) the Cozy Mystery-archetypical setting of small-town British life in the between-wars period, maintaining the same focus on a tightly-knit social circle. Like if Miss Marple took place between 1800 and 1840, and she was put in place of Emma's Miss Bates, or P&P's Charlotte Lucas, or Persuasion's Anne.
Then I thought, well, even if it's not quite Miss Marple, surely somebody must have thought of that before. Both genres have been popular for a long time now. So I Googled a bit, and my conclusion is that nobody has done quite this, at least not recently (obviously, if they did it closer to the 19th century their efforts might not be so readily Googlable). I did find a few results of possible interest:
So. Muffin unbuttered, unless by a happy accident I missed one and someone who knows about it happens to read this post. But I can always hold out hope for the future, either that I'll acquire the inspiration and plotting skills needed to write a mystery myself, or that somebody else will have the same idea.
* Wrede, of course, was the originator of MammothFail, one of the significant episodes of Racefail '09, which is something everyone should know about when deciding whether to read or purchase her books. She wrote the book my pseud comes from, but I do still have a bit of trouble getting into a reread these days.
Christie, Sayers, and Georgette Heyer all set their mysteries in the between wars period, which is also a lot of fun of course, and is my other favorite historical period. That's probably why my thoughts tend to jump back to the Regency from there.
Of course, we all (or most) know about Patricia C. Wrede* and Caroline Stevermer's Sorcery and Cecilia, which might be the book that initially planted the idea in my mind. That book and its sequels aren't quite my idea though:
- They're epistolary (although if I'm remembering right the sequels, which I didn't enjoy nearly as much, might waver from that a bit).
- They incorporate magic in basically the same way as Wrede's Mairelon the Magician series (and are in fact, I believe, set in the same universe), a bit like the magic in Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
- They're Heyerian, not Austenian, Regencies. That means that they deal with the richest, most fashionable and highly ranked people in society, most often in an urban setting, like a historical Gossip Girl, where Austen wrote about the middle class and her setting was always cozy. (Heyer, of course, also has some books set in the countryside, and some impoverished heroines, but she almost never wrote characters who were just Mr. or The Honorable anything - at least, not male characters.)
The premise I thought of was collapsing the genres together based on the similarity between (a) the Austen-typical setting of small-town British life in the Regency period and (b) the Cozy Mystery-archetypical setting of small-town British life in the between-wars period, maintaining the same focus on a tightly-knit social circle. Like if Miss Marple took place between 1800 and 1840, and she was put in place of Emma's Miss Bates, or P&P's Charlotte Lucas, or Persuasion's Anne.
Then I thought, well, even if it's not quite Miss Marple, surely somebody must have thought of that before. Both genres have been popular for a long time now. So I Googled a bit, and my conclusion is that nobody has done quite this, at least not recently (obviously, if they did it closer to the 19th century their efforts might not be so readily Googlable). I did find a few results of possible interest:
- Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries is a series where Jane herself is the sleuth. There is also in existence a series where Chaucer is the sleuth, which I read part of and was disappointed in. Maybe this is a trend, which, I think, would be great! Worth checking out, I think. Does anyone know anything about it?
- Ashley Gardner's Captain Lacey Mysteries have a male hero, and appear to be more Heyerian than Austenian, but could still be enjoyable. However, the style of the website, and the books' covers, make me suspect that they belong to the lower, less historically accurate class of Regency, which I tend to fail out of after one or two mistakes, gnashing my teeth and ranting about badfic (I enjoy a lot of badfic, but I don't enjoy the kind where the problem is lack of knowledge about the period/setting as opposed to lack of writing skills. Do your fucking research or write something else. I'm looking at you, basically almost every Regency AU I've ever read in a not-already-historical fandom). But authors don't pick their own covers of course, so with luck maybe it's more Peter Wimseyish.
- Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd is a Mansfield Park pro fanfiction, turning it into a mystery. This review is positive and intriguing, although it also doesn't quite butter the particular muffin I wanted.
So. Muffin unbuttered, unless by a happy accident I missed one and someone who knows about it happens to read this post. But I can always hold out hope for the future, either that I'll acquire the inspiration and plotting skills needed to write a mystery myself, or that somebody else will have the same idea.
* Wrede, of course, was the originator of MammothFail, one of the significant episodes of Racefail '09, which is something everyone should know about when deciding whether to read or purchase her books. She wrote the book my pseud comes from, but I do still have a bit of trouble getting into a reread these days.
happy channukah
Date: 13 Dec 2012 11:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 14 Dec 2012 02:59 am (UTC)They're pretty good at evoking the period, the mysteries are quite fun but it's easier to imagine they are about someone living at the same time who is not actually Jane Austen, because the Jane she imagines is more timid, modest and less intelligent than Austen was. The family dynamics don't match either - everyone is much nicer in general, and money and sex is toned down. She makes Jane respectable.
Definitely worth reading and fun, but as regency mysteries alone.
I read the CS Harris Sebastian St Cyr mysteries afterwards and they were more fun.
(no subject)
Date: 14 Dec 2012 04:30 am (UTC)The Jane-Austen-as-detective series is pleasant, and wafts somewhere near Austenish style. It's refreshingly knowledgeable about actual Regency customs and usage, while allowing the Jane figure (I can't quite see this as Miss Austen, either, but the *details* are meticulous) more leeway than an Austen heroine would have had to gad about finding and solving stray murders. Good fun, however.
I've read about one and a half of Ashley Gardner's mysteries, and these are a bit too violent to fit into the Regency or Cozy mold. From what I could tell, however, it's because the stories include characters among the 98% who weren't rich or titled, so the reader sees something of the horrific effects of legislation and policing (such as it was) on people for whom the Corn Laws were a real problem. This isn't quite escapist enough for my muffins, I fear, and I can't decide if the writing is a bit slow, or I just don't like the darker tone.
Tracy Grant and Teresa Grant (I believe these are the same writer) have several books out with complex spy-murder-detection-intrigue plots, very chewy and definitely among the highest reaches of society, with what has become a common pattern of historical wife-and-husband detectives -- usually they meet in the first book and are married by the second or third. The milieu isn't precisely cozy, but the drafts and spilled blood occupy very grand hallways.
The C.S. Harris books starring St.Cyr look promising, with another young woman too smart to get married and too well-born to do anything else, who hooks up with a nobleman to fight crime and social injustice while making it very clear she's not impressed by his title. This is roughly Harriet and Peter in period clothes, but I haven't got through the first whole book in the series as yet, so I'm not sure quite how it works out. It's about bodies in alleys rather than drawing rooms, for what that's worth.
Kate Ross wrote four Regency-period mysteries that cut through all levels of society, starring amateur detective Julian Kestrel, complete with omnicompetent manservant. These, starting with A Broken Vessel, were published in 1993-1997.
I recall a few other curiosities from the mists of time, including a couple of rather bad mysteries wherein Beau Brummel was said to be the detective. No doubt someone, somewhere, has written Bonnie Prince Charlie as detective. I can't decide if I'm afraid or hopeful.
(no subject)
Date: 14 Dec 2012 03:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 14 Dec 2012 03:29 pm (UTC)