Murder at Mansfield Park

possibility for many years, and almost ceasing
to form hopes of it ever coming about, Dr Grant finally succeeded to the stall in Westminster that had long been the object of his ambition, and he and his wife removed to London. The living at
Mansfield now falling vacant, Sir Thomas was most heartily gratified to be able to offer it to his nephew, and no less heartily did he welcome the young couple home, having formed such an
attachment to Mary, in the weeks after his return from Keswick, as had made him miss her as much as if she had been his own daughter. After settling her in her new home with every kind attention to
her comfort, the object of almost every day was to see her there, or to get her away from it.
    One might suppose that the prospect of living at the parsonage would revive some painful memories, but these were quickly done away. Mary had always thought it a pretty little house, and now
every window in it afforded fine views of a landscape that, thanks to her brother’s improvements, was fast becoming established as one of the beauties of the county. With her husband’s
love, and her own rising fame to sustain her, the parsonage soon grew as dear to her heart, and as thoroughly perfect in her eyes, as every thing else, within the view and patronage of Mansfield
Park, had long been.

 
    Acknowledgements
    My first and greatest debt is, of course, to Jane Austen herself—not just her wonderful novels, but her letters as well, which I have both mimicked and mined in an effort
to recreate her characteristic combination of elegant turns of phrase and delightfully ruthless observations. As a lifelong fan of her work I’ve tried to remain faithful both to the spirit of
her writing, and the actual language she used—I’d like to think that if she’d turned her hand to murder it might just have turned out something like this.
    Some readers will also have recognised the deliberate reference to Kingsley Amis’s famous condemnation of the original Fanny Price as “a monster of complacency and pride, who under a
cloak of cringing self-abasement, dominates and gives meaning to the novel”. This comes from an article originally published in The Spectator in October 1957, entitled ‘What
became of Jane Austen?’
    Finally, I’d like to thank my husband Simon for all his support, and my agent, Ben Mason, for everything he did to make this happen—without him, it would never have been published at
all.

 
    Reading Group Questions
    1. There have been many sequels and prequels written to Jane Austen’s novels over the years. Do you think it’s legitimate to re-work Austen in this way? Does Murder at Mansfield Park shed any new light on the original book?
    2. Fanny Price in Mansfield Park is very unlike a typical Austen heroine—in fact it’s Mary Crawford who is much closer to Elizabeth Bennett or Emma
     Woodhouse. What do you think about the role and idea of the heroine, both in Austen’s novel(s) and in this one?
    3. Two of the central episodes of Mansfield Park are the theatricals and the visit to Sotherton, both of which are echoed and re-worked in this novel. How do these
     scenes advance the plot, and develop our understanding of the characters in both books?
    4. One of the consequences of the murder in this novel is that the servants at Mansfield Park suddenly take on a new role and importance. What effect does this have?
    5. The laying out of the corpse in Chapter XII could be seen as a nineteenth century version of the post mortem scenes that are now common in modern detective fiction. Are
     there other episodes or aspects to the plot of this book that also recall contemporary thrillers?
    6. Kingsley Amis famously described the Fanny Price of Mansfield Park as “a monster of complacency and pride who, under a cloak of cringing self-abasement,
     dominates and gives meaning to the novel.” These words have been deliberately echoed in this book, as a reflection on the Fanny Price of Murder at Mansfield Park . What do you
     think about the character of Fanny in both books?
    7. Do you think the Henry Crawford of Murder at Mansfield Park committed the earlier killing at Enfield? Why? Or why not?
    8. Many critics have suggested that Jane Austen interferes with the plot of Mansfield Park towards the end, to achieve the ending she wants, when the natural
     trajectory of the story would have had Mary marrying Edmund, and Henry marrying Fanny (which is, of course, what happens in this novel).