Murder at Mansfield Park
98. Lynn Shepherd, Murder at Mansfield Park
This novel imagines an alternate-reality Mansfield Park where Mary Crawford is good, Fanny Price is bad, and plot elements of the original novel are depicted in a whole new light. In this version, Fanny is a privileged heiress who has grown up as the center of attention at Mansfield Park; as a result, she is insufferably arrogant and cruel to those who are beneath her. Mary Crawford, who immediately sees Fanny’s true nature, also observes the complicated family dynamics around her: the veneer of politeness in the Mansfield family cannot conceal its many rivalries and resentments. Tensions come to a horrifying climax when Fanny is found murdered on the grounds of the estate, and Mary uses her intelligence and deductive skills to help capture the killer.
The premise of this book intrigued me, but I honestly wasn’t sure whether I would end up enjoying this book or wanting to set it on fire. Fortunately, I really liked the way Shepherd re-imagined Mansfield Park, and it was fun for me to compare her changes with Austen’s original work. The mystery is interesting enough, but it’s not really the point of the book, and the killer wasn’t too difficult to guess. It bothered me a little that this book takes a lot of material from Austen’s novels and letters, but ultimately there’s a lot of original writing too. I would definitely recommend this book to people who have read Mansfield Park (it’s not a must, but you’ll definitely miss out on a lot of the fun if you haven’t!) and who find the concept interesting.